His work to help safeguard the rare worm and its habitat from the Caversham road-widening project was marked with a special recognition award in the 2014 Coastal Otago Conservation Awards presented last night.
Until plans emerged to widen the Caversham motorway, few had any idea what a peripatus was.
The worm was to become the centre of controversy as Mr Randle and others fought to retain some of its habitat as the motorway plans developed.
In 2010, the original site of the peripatus was unintentionly destroyed by the roadworks.
Mr Randle negotiated and lobbied for an ''offset'' to the loss to be caused by the road widening, liaising with Transit New Zealand, Department of Conservation, University of Otago, Forest and Bird and the Dunedin City Council to ensure they all did their bit to ensure the continued protection of peripatus.
He successfully pushed for a peripatus management plan. His work, which began after he discovered peripatus on his Caversham property in 1988, was noted by Dunedin Mayor Dave Cull and Cr David Benson-Pope, who nominated him for a conservation award.
