The list of 28 native animals placed on the latest threatened species list is expected to be joined by even more as the full impact of the 2019-20 summer bushfires is assessed in the next six months.
On the latest list released by the Threatened Species Scientific Committee are the koala and the greater glider, the world's largest gliding mammal.
The enormous impact of the summer bushfires has forced the federal government to request two interim assessments, one for December this year and another in April 2021.
Federal Environment Minister Susan Ley said that as a result of these assessments, she was expecting that "a considerable number of other fire-affected species" may be "up-listed".
The 28 prioritised species include two reptiles, four frogs, seven fish, six mammals and 12 birds.
Of significant concern to one of the world's most cited forest ecologists, Professor David Lindenmayer, from the Australian National University's Fenner School of Environment and Society, is that populations of the eucalypt-eating greater glider are "in freefall" across large bushland areas of eastern Australia.
The summer bushfires, logging and the affects of climate change have had enormous impact on the glider which he says "is as iconic to Australia as the koala" .
"This animal is in a huge amount of trouble," he said.
The ANU team has conducted long term monitoring of the glider's numbers.
He said there were populations around Tumut, in the Brindabellas and the Tallanganda state forest near Captains Flat, and the important work next was to identify the most important refuges for the species in the landscape, and then act to protect those areas as soon as possible. The hollow trees of old growth forests are the glider's natural habitat.
"These are simply beautiful creatures but there's just not the same public awareness of them as there is of, say, the koala," Professor Lindenmayer said.
"Now we have to start doing something very quickly about the greater glider because the numbers are going off a cliff," Professor Lindenmayer said.
"Australians need to recognise that ... the megafires of last summer have pushed the decline in biodiversity at us faster than expected."