The ACT government has updated its list of threatened species to include the Canberra grassland earless dragon as critically endangered.
The dragon is a small lizard that lives in the territory's temperate grasslands.
Five new species have been added to the list, while four have had their status updated.
Among them are the gang-gang cockatoo, mountain skink, southern greater glider, koala and the Key's matchstick grasshopper, all listed as endangered.
The golden sun moth and yellow-bellied glider are now classified as vulnerable.
The ACT government said these changes largely reflected the extensive loss of habitat that occurred during the 2019-20 bushfires.
Environment Minister Rebecca Vassarotti today said the dragon's fate was of particular concern, in part because of plans to construct a road at the northern end of the Canberra Airport through its main habitat.
The development proposal is now under review due to these concerns, and Ms Vassarotti said she had written to the federal minister about it, as the land falls under their jurisdiction.
"This is a development that would probably see the end of this species," she said.
Ms Vassarotti said she had spoken to airport management as well as federal Minister for the Environment and Water Tanya Plibersek about the danger the planned freight hub posed to the dragon.
"If we make decisions such as this, we are likely to see the extinction of this species on our watch," she said.
"We haven't got that much more environment to trade off. So with the decision of saving a species and building a road, I think that the decision is quite clear in that circumstance," Ms Vassarotti said.
Airport sent 'back to the drawing board'
A spokesman for the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water said the Capital Airport Group's current plans had been halted following intervention by Ms Plibersek.
"The minister has sent the airport back to the drawing board and the airport has promised to do no work while the government looks at their proposal," the spokesman said.
"The minister has not yet made a decision."
The Capital Airport Group declined the ABC's request for comment.
Minister Vassarotti said a balance needed to be struck between growth of the capital and the conservation of the region's native species.
She said the answer was not "trading off one crisis to solve another."
"If we are committed to ensuring that we halt extinction, we do need to make some difficult decisions," she said.
