The recently described Capricorn Rabbit-rat is listed as Extinct because it is only known from subfossil material, some of which may have post-dated European settlement of Australia. There have been no targeted surveys for the species in the area, although there have been some general wildlife surveys in the broader region around the known locations (e.g., Kirkpatrick and Lavery 1979).  

No living individuals of this species have been reported. It is known only from fossil and subfossil material from four sites in north-eastern Australia: Capricorn Caves and Mount Etna (both near Rockhampton in mid-eastern Queensland), and Broken River and Christmas Creek (both inland from Townsville in north-eastern Queensland) (Cramb and Hocknull 2010, Louys et al. 2023).

The Capricorn Rabbit-rat is known only from fossil and subfossil material (Cramb and Hocknull 2010, Louys et al. 2023). Some of this material is considered to be 'very recent', though no dates are estimated (Cramb and Hocknull 2010). In the description, Cramb and Hocknull (2010) noted that ‘it is most likely extinct’, but that ‘some [skull material] specimens collected in 2003 from a cave floor at Broken River appear remarkably fresh. The very ‘fresh’ nature of these specimens may indicate the persistence of the species in that area today’. This material showed ‘no signs of fossilisation and still preserved desiccation cracks and organic staining to the bone’. Cramb and Hocknull (2010) expressed some hope that it may yet be found alive, though it is presumed extinct here. It is recognised as extinct by the Threatened Species Scientific Committee (2021) of the Australian Government.

No living individuals have ever been reported. Habits and ecology are likely to be similar to congeners - partly arboreal species sheltering during the day in tree hollows and hollow logs; mostly granivorous; relatively low reproductive output (Watts and Aslin 1981). Louys et al. (2023) reported some subfossil material of this species co-occurred with that of C. albipes and suggested that this indicated some niche differentiation between the two species.

This species has never been recorded alive, so assessment of threats is speculative. If it post-dated European colonisation of Australia (1788), it was probably affected by the same threats that contributed to the extinction of Conilurus albipes - most likely predation by feral cats Felis catus, with this species being in the preferred prey size range for predation by cats (Woolley et al. 2019). Other factors that may have contributed to its extinction include reduction in food resources and habitat quality due to spread of pastoralism, clearing and changes in fire regime.

This species is presumed extinct. Some targeted survey in its presumed former range is justified.