A new arboreal Lepidodactylus (Reptilia: Gekkonidae) from Espiritu Santo Island, Vanuatu: from egg to holotype

Zootaxa ◽  
2008 ◽  
Vol 1918 (1) ◽  
pp. 26-38 ◽  
Author(s):  
IVAN INEICH

Lepidodactylus buleli is a new gecko from Espiritu Santo Island, central Vanuatu, Melanesia. This species most closely resembles L. pulcher from Admiralty Islands (Papua New Guinea) by its elevated number of midbody scale rows, and belongs to Brown and Parker’s (1977) Group II based on having an entire terminal scansor on all digits followed by two or three divided or deeply notched subterminal scansors on digits II–V. It differs from other Group II species in having the following combination of character states: a high number of scales around midbody, relatively weak dilation of digits, slight webbing of toes III and IV, cloacal spurs, and an original coloration. This species lives in myrmecophilous plants hanging high on trees in the deep primary forest on the west dry coast of Espiritu Santo Island. It also is the first lizard known from a holotype collected as an egg in the field, hatched in captivity, and grown until reaching adult size, allowing its description.

2006 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stuart J. Marsden ◽  
Craig T. Symes

Despite New Guinea's importance for parrot species, there is an almost total lack of quantitative data on abundances or habitat associations of parrots on the island. We present such data for 15 parrot species within the species-rich (21 species) Crater Mountain Wildlife Management Area, Papua New Guinea. The four most abundant parrot species made up 70% of all parrots recorded in primary forest and 76% in old gardens. Several species had estimated densities of 10?60 birds per km2 and we suggest that the most abundant species on New Guinea are at least as common as those on the surrounding islands. Two species of particular conservation importance, Palm Cockatoo Probosciger aterrimus and Pesquefs Parrot Psittrichas fulgidus had estimated densities of just one bird per km2, while several other notably rare species included Dusky Lory Pseudeos fuscata and the fig-parrots Cyclopsitta diopthalma and Psittaculirostris desmarestii. Most parrot species were strongly associated with the lower and flatter areas of the site, where mature secondary forest dominated. Again, this is a pattern shared with parrots on nearby islands, and the finding emphasizes the importance of protecting lower-altitude mature forests within the region.


Author(s):  
Boris I. Sirenko ◽  
Hiroshi Saito

Two new species of the family Leptochitonidae, Leptochiton pumilus sp. nov. and Terenochiton nomurai sp. nov. are described from the tropical and subtropical shallow waters of the West Pacific. L. pumilus from the Philippines and Papua New Guinea has a net-like sculpture on the shell which is rather rare feature in the genus. In this genus, so far only three species have hitherto been known in the tropical shallow waters, in contrast to more than 130 other extant species which are living in the deep cold waters and high latitudes. T. nomurai from Ryukyu Islands is the second representative of the genus Terenochiton Iredale, 1914 which was recently reinstated for Leptochiton norfolcensis (Hedley et Hull, 1912), and is characterized by having rudiments of the insertion plates in all valves. T. nomurai closely resembles the type species, but differs in the arrangement of the aesthete pores on the granules of the tegmentum, and less developed rudiments of the insertion plates. Key words: chitons, Leptochiton, Terenochiton, new species, the Philippines, Japan, Papua New Guinea. Описаны два новых вида семейства Leptochitonidae, Leptochiton pumilus sp. nov. и Terenochiton nomurai sp. nov. из тропических и субтропических мелководий западной Пацифики. L. pumilus c Филиппин и Папуа – Новой Гвинеи имеет сетчатовидную скульптуру на раковине, что является довольно редким признаком в этом роде. В этом роде только три вида известны до настоящего времени в тропических мелководьях, в противоположность более чем 130 другим современным видам, которые живут в глубоких холодных водах и в высоких широтах. T. nomurai из островов Рюкю является вторым представителем рода Terenochiton Iredale, 1914, который был недавно восстановлен для Leptochiton norfolcensis (Hedley et Hull, 1912) и характеризуется наличием рудиментов инсерционных пластинок на всех щитках. T. nomurai сходен с типовым видом рода, но отличается расположением пор эстетов на зернах тегментума и менее развитыми рудиментами инсерционных пластинок. Ключевые слова: хитоны, Leptochiton, Terenochiton, новые виды, Филиппины, Япония, Папуа Новая Гвинея.


Zootaxa ◽  
2006 ◽  
Vol 1208 (1) ◽  
pp. 57 ◽  
Author(s):  
STEPHEN J. RICHARDS ◽  
PAUL OLIVER ◽  
CHRIS DAHL ◽  
BURHAN TJATURADI

A new species of large green frog of the hylid genus Litoria is described from northern New Guinea. The new species is superficially similar to Litoria graminea and L. infrafrenata. It can be distinguished from L. graminea by the possession of a poorly defined white labial stripe that does not extend beyond the ear, and from L. infrafrenata by the combination of comparatively small adult size (males 57.9–60.4 mm), fully webbed fingers and a call that is a long (0.7–0.9 s) deep guttural growl. It is known from lowland forests around the village of Utai in north-western Papua New Guinea.


Significance After rioting in the capital, Honiara, late last month Sogavare sought Australian assistance under a bilateral security accord and Canberra dispatched a small force of police and troops to help stabilise the situation. The riots are linked to Sogavare’s decision to switch diplomatic recognition from Taiwan to China in 2019; Beijing has condemned the Australian response. Impacts The Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea will remain the chief focus of regional rivalries between China and the West. Australia will step up efforts to shut Beijing out of sensitive telecoms services in the region. China’s shift from aid to concessionary loans for infrastructure projects will deepen political concerns over indebtedness.


Zootaxa ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 4476 (1) ◽  
pp. 168
Author(s):  
PAKORN TONGBOONKUA ◽  
MAO-YING LEE ◽  
WEI-JEN CHEN

Left-eyed flounders of the genus Chascanopsetta Alcock 1894 (Bothidae) occur in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans at depths ranging from 120 to 1500 meters. They possess some unique features in bothid fishes including a strongly compressed and elongated body and a tremendously large mouth. Currently, nine species of Chascanopsetta are recognized, and three of them (C. micrognatha Amaoka & Yamamoto 1984, C. lugubris Alcock 1894 and C. prognatha Norman 1939) are distributed in the West Pacific. We collected 25 specimens of Chascanopsetta during 11 biodiversity expeditions carried out mainly in the West Pacific. Among them, eight specimens taken off Papua New Guinea present morphological features that differ from those of the three nominal species known in the West Pacific. In this study, we examined these eight specimens of unknown affinity and compared their morphology to that of specimens of other congeneric species. Results of these comparisons showed that these specimens represent an undescribed species of Chascanopsetta, named herein, C. novaeguineae sp. nov.. The new species resembles C. elski Foroshchuk 1991, which is known only from the Saya de Malha Bank in the western Indian Ocean, in having a high number of gill rakers (> 13). However, the combination of the following characters further distinguishes C. novaeguineae sp. nov. from C. elski: longer jaws, narrower interorbital width, and number of pseudobranches (21–25 vs. 26–27). The DNA sequences from the mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase subunit I (COI) gene from C. novaeguineae sp. nov. and other species were obtained and compared to confirm its taxonomic status and to infer its tentative phylogenetic position within the Chascanopsetta.


1994 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 31
Author(s):  
D.J. Kitchener ◽  
M. Adams

Skull and external morphology and the genetic relationships of Scotorepens sanbomi individuals were studied for populations in Papua New Guinea, Queensland, Northern Territory, Western Australia and West Timor (a recently discovered population). Discriminant function analyses showed that animals from West Timor were large and similar in size and shape to those from Papua New Guinea and Queensland; their skull dimensions were closer to Queensland animals whereas their external dimensions were closer to Papua New Guinea animals. The West Timor, Papua New Guinea and Queensland animals were considerably larger in skull', external and baculum measurements than the Western Australian animals. The Northern Territory animals were intermediate, but closer to the Western Australian animals. The latter also showed some proportional (shape) differences from animals in these other populations. The largest animals (West Timor) had a relatively high wing loading and higher aspect ratio than the smallest (Western Australia) animals. This suggests that on West Timor the species forage in less cluttered airspace, probably higher above the vegetation, than their counterparts from Western Australia. Allozyme electrophoresis of 3lloci revealed considerable genetic heterogeneity between the populations (Nei Ds range 0.023- 0.158). The West Timor population was genetically most similar to the Western Australia and Northern Territory populations and most divergent from both the Queensland and New Guinea populations.


1986 ◽  
Vol 32 (2) ◽  
pp. 90-92 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. A. Thomason ◽  
C. L. Jenkins ◽  
P. F. Heywood

Antiquity ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 87 (337) ◽  
pp. 885-888 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sue O'Connor ◽  
Rintaro Ono

For one who is so intent on factual accuracy and precision in others, Anderson is surprisingly lenient on himself, and misrepresents our arguments. Some points of clarification are required before we proceed to address the more substantive issues regarding Pleistocene fishing and fishing technology. In the introduction to his critique, Anderson (above) states that "in regard to Wallacea, O'Connell et al. (2010: 60) cite" the evidence for fishing at Buang Merabak and Kilu Cave (Papua New Guinea), and Jerimalai (Timor-Leste) and that they conclude that "these data are best read to indicate angling from boats well offshore". Firstly, as outlined in O'Connor et al. (2011) Wallacea is a strictly defined biogeographic region which comprises the Indonesian Islands lying to the east of Sundaland and to the west of Sahul and Near Oceania. Kilu Cave and Buang Merabak are in Near Oceania, not in Wallacea, and while the two island regions share depauperate terrestrial faunas the biota of the two are very different.


2006 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 87-105 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick Matbob ◽  
Evangelia Papoutsaki

This article explores the West Papua issue through the Papua New Guinea news media. It seeks to identify the reasons behind the decline in coverage of West Papua in the PNG press. It provides an historical background to the West Papua conflict and PNG’s relationship with Indonesian-ruled West Papua and it presents the results of a comparative content analysis of three PNG newspapers—Post-Courier, The National, and Times of Papua New Guinea—on their coverage of West Papua, in-depth interviews with journalists and West Papuan refugees in Papua New Guinea.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document