Edge-of-range camera-trap records of Superb Lyrebird (Menura novaehollandiae) in western and central-north Tasmania (2018–2025)

Barry W. Brook , Jessie C. Buettel

Tasmania’s Superb Lyrebird (Menura novaehollandiae) was deliberately introduced to south‑east Tasmania in 1934 and has since dispersed across much of the island’s central bioregions. Despite this expansion, the Lyrebird’s future range dynamics remains uncertain, with recent modelling projecting that it will take over 50 years for the species to establish in the north-west of the island. Here we document recent, verified camera‑trap detections at or well beyond the extreme edge of the expected spread in 2025, at three locations: repeated sequences near Bird River at Macquarie Harbour (2018 to 2022), a single event near Rosebery in the southern Tarkine (2021-11-16), and a three-second video near Mt Roland in the central north (2025-08-08). These camera observations extend well beyond the Atlas of Living Australia records current to 2025. Local sampling intensity in each region was high: 24,516 camera‑days across 36 sites near Bird River–Queenstown (median = 762 camera days per site), 36,669 camera‑days across 77 sites near Rosebery (median = 400), and 17,822 camera‑days across 32 sites around Mt Roland (median = 651). The observed north-west dispersal appears to be consistent with an early advance along rainforest–scrub corridors. The 2025 Mt Roland record might represent the leading edge of an undetected expansion front, or a vagrant individual. Targeted surveillance in north-west Tasmania will be required to test these alternatives and refine forecasts of the species’ future spread across the island.