Distribution, ecological attributes and trade of the New Guinea carpet python (Morelia spilota) in Indonesia

2011 ◽  
Vol 59 (4) ◽  
pp. 236 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel J. D. Natusch ◽  
Jessica A. Lyons

Carpet pythons (Morelia spilota) are medium-sized non-venomous snakes inhabiting most of continental Australia and a small area of New Guinea. They have been relatively well studied in Australia, but little is known about the New Guinea population, even though it is harvested and exported from Indonesia for the international pet trade. In total, 281 locality records were compiled for two distinct populations south of latitude 7°S in Papua New Guinea and the Indonesian province of Papua. Traders in Papua collected 274 carpet pythons (most of which were recently hatched neonates) for the pet trade. Data from a sample of 174 individuals revealed little sexual dimorphism in any traits, although males appear to grow larger than females despite females maturing at greater lengths. Fecundity was high (average 17 eggs) and reproduction was highly seasonal, with hatching in December and January. Harvest quotas for the province of Papua were exceeded in all years between 2000 and 2009 due to 50% of the national quota being allocated to West Papua province where this species is yet to be recorded. The present study provides distribution, trade and ecological information to inform conservation management of this species in Indonesia.

Zootaxa ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 4991 (1) ◽  
pp. 161-168
Author(s):  
MING KAI TAN ◽  
SIGFRID INGRISCH ◽  
CAHYO RAHMADI ◽  
TONY ROBILLARD

Heminicsara Karny, 1912 is a katydid genus of Agraeciini from the Axylus genus group. It currently comprises 62 species from mainly New Guinea and surrounding archipelagos. Based on recent fieldwork in Lobo in West Papua, Indonesia, a new species of Heminicsara is described here: Heminicsara incrassata sp. nov. It is most readily characterised from congeners and other species of the Axylus genus group by the male tenth abdominal tergite forming a large shield-shaped plate. This represents the first species of Heminicsara described and known from the south-west of New Guinea.  


2015 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 77
Author(s):  
Ceridwen Spark

In this article, I discuss two recent examples of women’s filmmaking in Melanesia. The documentaries are Tanah Mama (2014), focused on West Papua and Café Niugini (2015), set in Papua New Guinea. Both films explore and represent food in profoundly different ways. Here, I consider their respective depictions of food, demonstrating that Tanah Mama represents food as sustenance while Café Niugini renders food as ‘cuisine’ through the ‘creative performance’ of cookery. Nevertheless, and as I argue, both documentaries reflect the filmmakers’ interest in representing issues associated with food in the Pacific, including the importance of Indigenous access to land, population management, gender roles and the impact of changing cultural values on food consumption and health.


2000 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 33-35
Author(s):  
Peter Cronau

  Mercenaries expelled from Papua New Guinea in 1997 had worked a year earlier in West Papua assisting Indonesia's notorious Kopassus special forces troops in an operation that caused many civilian deaths. 


2011 ◽  
Vol 59 (3) ◽  
pp. 145 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel James Deans Natusch ◽  
David Francis Stewart Natusch

The green python (Morelia viridis) is an iconic snake species highly sought after in the pet trade and is the target of illegal collection. Despite their popularity, some important ecological attributes of green pythons remain unknown, making their effective conservation management difficult. Detection-only surveys were conducted throughout the potential range of the green python in Australia, and intensive mark–recapture surveys were conducted in the areas where there have been previous records. In total, 298 green pythons were located in the Iron, McIlwraith and Kawadji–Ngaachi ranges of Cape York, distributed over an estimated area of 2289 km2, where they frequented rainforest habitats and adjacent vine thickets. They were not found in the Lockerbie Scrub or Jardine River Catchment, despite anecdotal records. Green python density was estimated to be 540 km–2 in the Iron Range and 200 km–2 in the McIlwraith Range, where the percentages of adults captured were 56% and 83%, respectively. The differences between abundance and population demographics in the Iron and McIlwraith ranges may be due to differences in prey abundance and the impacts of collection. The results of this study provide baseline data to conservation managers and policy makers for the future conservation management of this species in Australia.


2020 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 37-42
Author(s):  
Fred Wesley

Commentary: The Melanesian Media Freedom Forum (MMFF) notes democracy is in retreat and journalists like Victor Mambor (West Papua), Scott Waide (Papua New Guinea) and Dan McGarry (Vanuatu) are carrying the baton for media freedom. There has been a global reversal for a free press that has spanned countries in every region, including long-standing democracies like the United States and consolidated authoritarian regimes like China and Russia. The pattern has been consistent and ominous.


2020 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 309-311
Author(s):  
Nicole Gooch

The War Next Door, reported by Sally Sara. Foreign Correspondent. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Broadcast: 12 May 2020. 30 minutes. https://www.abc.net.au/foreign/the-war-next-door/12239998 ‘WE GOT to keep on pushing forward,’ sings the band Sorong Samarai, which means from the tip of West Papua, Sorong, to Samari, the island which lies at the eastern tip of mainland Papua New Guinea, Samarai. ‘One people, one soul, one destiny.’


Phytotaxa ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 166 (1) ◽  
pp. 69 ◽  
Author(s):  
EDWINO SAMSON FERNANDO

Three new species in Calamus sect. Podocephalus (Arecaceae: Calamoideae) are described and illustrated: Calamus daemonoropoides from the Philippines, Calamus parutan from East Java and Bali, Indonesia, and Calamus zieckii from Papua and West Papua, Indonesia and Papua New Guinea.  These are compared with similar species in the section.


2020 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 194-196
Author(s):  
Melanesia Media Freedom Forum

We, the participants at the Melanesian Media Freedom representing media from Fiji, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea and West Papua, wish to express concern about growing threats to media freedom in our region and call on members of our industry and other organisations and individuals to take action to help secure the future of the Fourth Estate as a vital pillar of democracy.


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