RAPID BIODIVERSITY ASSESSMENT OF UPLAND SAVAI’I, SAMOA JAMES ATHERTON AND BRUCE JEFFERIES (EDITORS) D ECEMBER 2012 S ecretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme SPP RE Library/IRC Cataloguing-in-Publication Data Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) Atherton, James and Jefferies, Bruce (editors) Rapid biodiversity asssessment of upland Savai’i, Samoa / by James Atherton and Bruce Jefferies (editors) – Apia, Samoa : SPREP, 2012. 176 p. 29 cm. ISBN: 978-982-04-0470-0 (print) 978-982-04-0469-4 (online) 1.Biodiversity – Samoa – Savai’i. 2. Biodiversity conservation - Samoa - Savai’i. 3. Ecosystem management – Samoa – Savai’i. I. Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MNRE). II. Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP). III. Title. 333.95099614 Cover photos: Background: The pristine forests of Upland Savai’i from helicopter (photo by J. Atherton). Bottom left: The endemic Samoan Skink (Emoia samoensis) (photo by C. Brown). Bottom middle: The Red-headed (Samoan) Parrotfinch (Erythrura cyaneovirens) (photo by R. Stirnemann). Bottom right: the endemic moth Monosyntaxis samoensis (photo by E.Edwards). © MNRE, SPREP 2012 All rights for commercial / for profit reproduction or translation, in any form, reserved. SPREP authorises the partial reproduction or translation of this material for scientific, educational or research purposes, provided that SPREP and the source document are properly acknowledged. Permission to reproduce the document and / or translate in whole, in any form, whether for commercial / for profit or non-profit purposes, must be requested in writing. Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme P.O. Box 240, Apia, Samoa. Telephone: + 685 21929, Fax: + 685 20231 www.sprep.org The Pacific environment, sustaining our livelihoods and natural heritage in harmony with our cultures. S ecretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme RAPID BIODIVERSITY ASSESSMENT OF UPLAND SAVAI’I, SAMOA JAMES ATHERTON AND BRUCE JEFFERIES (EDITORS) D ECEMBER 2012 S ecretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme The Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund is a joint initiative of l’Agence Française de Développement, Conservation International, the European Union, the Global Environment Facility, the Government of Japan, the MacArthur Foundation and the World Bank. A fundamental goal is to ensure civil society is engaged in biodiversity conservation. TABLE OF CONTENTS Participants and Authors ................................................................................................................... 4 Organizational Profiles ....................................................................................................................... 6 Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................................ 8 Executive Summary ............................................................................................................................. 9 Chapter 1: Report on the plants of Upland Savai’i ...................................................................19 Chapter 2: Report on the reptiles of Upland Savai’i ................................................................61 Chapter 3: Report on the birds of Upland Savai’i .....................................................................85 Chapter 4: Report on the moths and butterflies (Lepidoptera) of Upland Savai’i .......111 Chapter 5: Report on the landsnail fauna of Upland Savai’i ...............................................139 Annex 1: Preliminary report on the low- to mid-elevation landsnail fauna of Savai’i ......151 P articipants and Authors A I RT WH STLER FE OOR D BR K (LANDSNAILS) (PLANTS AND VEGETATION) PO Box 1652 I sle Botanica Nelson 7040, New Zealand 2814 Kalawao St. E: [email protected] Honolulu Hawai‘I 96822, USA JS AME ATHERTON E: [email protected] (ASSISTANT COORDINATOR) Environmental & GIS Consultant BC ARRE KY H IS (BIRDS) Box 1922, Apia, Samoa E: [email protected] E: [email protected] BUCEJFFERR E IES (COORDINATOR) KS IR TY SWINNERTON (BIRDS) T errestrial Ecosystems Management Officer Program Manager Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Island Conservation Programme P.O. Box 1908 PO Box 240 Boqueron, Puerto Rico 00622-1908 Apia, Samoa E: [email protected] E: [email protected] Mar K O’BRIEN (BIRDS) Da VID BUTLER (BIRD TEAM LEADER) Senior Technical Advisor D avid Butler Associates Ltd BirdLife International Pacific Programme PO Box 98 Suva, Fiji Nelson, New Zealand E: [email protected] E: [email protected] MoeuUI MU LI (REPTILES) EEDWRIC ARDS Senior Parks and Reserves Officer (FAUNA TEAM LEADER, INSECTS) National Reserves Office Science Advisor, Biodiversity Division of Environment and Conservation Department of Conservation Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment Conservation House Apia, Samoa PO Box 10-420 E: [email protected] Wellington 6143, New Zealand E: [email protected] RBECCASTIE RNEMANN (BIRDS) Ecology group FILELE A I ENOKA (BIRDS, REPTILES) Massey University N ational Reserves Office Palmerston North Division of Environment and Conservation New Zealand Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment E:[email protected] Government of Samoa Apia, Samoa E: [email protected] 4 Rapid Biodiversity Assessment of Upland Savai’i, Samoa RBER O T FISHER SE U MALO TALIE FOLIGA (REPTILES TEAM LEADER) (MOUNTAIN CAMP MANAGER, PLANTS) U. S. Geological Survey Principal Parks and Reserves Officer San Diego Field Station National Reserves Office 4165 Spruance Road, Suite 200 Division of Environment and Conservation San Diego Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment CA 92101-0812, USA Apia, Samoa E: [email protected] E: [email protected] S O’OALO TITO ALATIMU VKSAILI E MASIBALAVU (BIRDS) (VILLAGE CAMP MANAGER) Conservation International Senior Forestry Officer-W est Savai’i 3 Ma’afu St Forestry Division P.O. Box 2089 Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment Suva, Fiji Apia, Samoa E: [email protected] E: [email protected] Warre N CHINN (INSECTS) SEULU M VANY (PLANTS) I nvertebrate Ecologist V ia David Haynes Department of Conservation Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Canterbury Conservancy Programme Administration building, International Antarctic PO Box 240 Centre, 38 Orchard Rd, Christchurch 8053, Apia, Samoa New Zealand E: [email protected] E: [email protected] Rapid Biodiversity Assessment of Upland Savai’i, Samoa 5 O rganizational Profiles BIEP RDLIF ACIFIC PARTNERSHIP CTIALE RI C COSYSTEM PARTNERSHIP FUND (CEPF) BirdLife International is a global network of 117 T he Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund is a joint national NGOs (Partners) – including seven in the initiative of l’Agence Française de Développement, Pacific – whose mission is “to conserve wild birds, their Conservation International, the Global Environment habitats and global biodiversity, working with people Facility, the Government of Japan, the MacArthur towards sustainability in the use of natural resources”. Foundation and the World Bank. A fundamental goal The BirdLife Partnership is supported by a Secretariat is to ensure civil society is engaged in biodiversity with headquarters in Cambridge, UK. A regional conservation. supporting Secretariat for the Pacific Partnership is For more information visit: http://www.cepf.net based in Fiji, and includes a ‘BirdLife Fiji Programme’ pending the admission to the Partnership of an eligible Partner NGO there. BirdLife’s Pacific Partners Isla ND CONSERVATION are in Australia, Cook Islands, French Polynesia, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Palau and Samoa with a country programme managed by the Pacific Secretariat in Fiji. For more information visit: http://www.birdlife.org I sland Conservation works internationally to prevent extinctions by removing invasive species from CERONS VATION INTERNATIONAL PACIFIC islands. Islands are where the concentration of ISLANDS PROGRAM both biodiversity and species extinction is greatest, and by removing one of the greatest threats, introduced invasive vertebrates, lasting protection can be obtained for many globally endangered species. Island Conservation began as a network of conservationists in 1994 and became a charitable T he focus of Conservation International’s Pacific organization in 1997. Working together with local Islands Program is to provide for the development communities, government management agencies of sustainable societies by the people of the Pacific and conservation organizations, we select islands Islands, through the preservation of natural capital that have the greatest potential for preventing the and adaptation to climate change. CI’s PacificI slands extinction of globally threatened species; develop Program covers 20 – 30,000 islands in the 22 countries comprehensive plans for the removal of invasive and territories which make up the Polynesia- species; implement the removal of invasive species; Micronesia and New Caledonia Biodiversity Hotspots, and conduct research to understand the ecosystem and Papua New Guinea. The total oceanic coverage changes and benefits to inform future conservation of the program is around 40 million sq km (more than action. four times the size of the continental United States). The Pacific Islands Program is the only regional For more information visit: program within CI’s Asia-Pacific Field Division. It http://www.islandconservation.org consists of three sub-country/territory