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6:11AM Sunday 23 November, 2008 Sunshine Coast weather Mostly sunny min 17° - max 25°

A miraculous ‘old fella’

3 October 2008

The oldest Birdwing butterfly vine known to exist was discovered last week at a secret location on the Sunshine Coast.

The Birdwing butterfly vine is the food source for Queensland’s largest butterfly – the Richmond Birdwing.

Two of Queensland’s most distinguished ecologists, Dr Don Sands, president of the Richmond Birdwing Recovery Network, and former principal senior research scientist at the CSIRO, Dr Paul Grimshaw, found the ancient vine on a private property.

Dr Sands described it as an amazing find, a rainforest vine more than 200 years old, appropriately dubbed “the old fella”, with more than a hundred stems and branches, growing among basalt boulders on a cliff face.

“It is a miracle that it has survived,” he said.

“(The) location protected it from disturbance, logging and domestic stock.

“It is growing in the same area as other very rare species.”

The Richmond Birdwing is a vulnerable species, and Dr Sands heads a community organisation with more than 400 members, who are growing the butterfly’s food source in a co-ordinated recovery program.

“This is a particularly exciting and positive find, as the ancient vine is large enough to support a sustainable population of the butterfly – one of Queensland’s most beautiful,” Dr Sands said.

Dr Sands and Dr Grimshaw will be returning to the Coast in the near future to continue their hunt for surviving populations of the vulnerable butterfly and its rainforest vine.

“The Sunshine Coast is the frontline in the fight to save one of Australia’s most beautiful butterflies,” Dr Sands said.

“It’s a sad fact of life that we are looking for the last remnants of the rainforest vine upon which the butterfly feeds.”

The Richmond Birdwing was the clear winner in a survey by the Sunshine Coast Daily of preferred logos for the Sunshine Coast Regional Council.

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