The Terrestrial Vertebrates of Mua, Western Torres Strait Glen J
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VOLUME 4 PART 2 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENSLAND MUSEUM CULTURAL HERITAGE SERIES 17 OCTOBER 2008 © The State of Queensland (Queensland Museum) 2008 PO Box 3300, South Brisbane 4101, Australia Phone 06 7 3840 7555 Fax 06 7 3846 1226 Email [email protected] Website www.qm.qld.gov.au National Library of Australia card number ISSN 1440-4788 NOTE Papers published in this volume and in all previous volumes of the Memoirs of the Queensland Museum may be reproduced for scientific research, individual study or other educational purposes. Properly acknowledged quotations may be made but queries regarding the republication of any papers should be addressed to the Editor in Chief. Copies of the journal can be purchased from the Queensland Museum Shop. A Guide to Authors is displayed at the Queensland Museum web site A Queensland Government Project Typeset at the Queensland Museum CHAPTER 22 THE TERRESTRIAL VERTEBRATES OF MUA, WESTERN TORRES STRAIT GLEN J. INGRAM Ingram, G.J. 2008 10 17: The Terrestrial vertebrates of Mua, Western Torres Strait. Memoirs of the Queensland Museum, Cultural Heritage Series 4(2): 495-504. Brisbane. ISSN 1440-4788. Of terrestrial vertebrates, 213 species have been recorded from the island of Mua in Western Torres Strait: six species of frogs, 34 reptiles, 155 birds and 18 mammals. This is a large and varied insular fauna and reflects the variety of habitats on the island. Presently, there is no evidence that the occupation of Mua by people has had a detrimental impact on the terrestrial vertebrates except possibly for macropods. Even so, the extent of habitats on the island may be a result of purposeful burning. In managing the habitats, local knowledge will be crucial. Torres Strait, terrestrial vertebrates, frog, reptile, bird, mammal, biogeography, conservation. Glen Ingram, Queensland Museum, PO Box 3300, South Brisbane, Queensland 4101, Australia (Email: [email protected]); received 24 May 2007. Mua is the second-largest island in Torres Strait Local language names have yet to be written (about 17,000ha). It is a continental island of down. From past experience, language names granite with a variety of habitats including forest, will exist for most of the species determined by woodland, grassland and mangroves (Draffan et science (see, for example, Meriam Mír names al., 1983). As well there is the intertidal habitat for birds on Mer: Ingram, 1976). for wading birds. Over all, the habitats are in good condition. For this report I have followed the scientific names and common names in the WildNet From the perspective of science, the knowledge Database, Environmental Protection Agency, and understanding of Mua’s terrestrial animals Queensland (http://www.epa.qld.gov.au/nature_ are in their infancy; the Torres Strait islands conservation/wildlife/wildlife_online). Excellent have been much neglected. As well, scientific reference books for the fauna of the islands are knowledge has yet to be joined with the knowledge the following: frogs and reptiles (Cogger, 2000); of the land owners, which will greatly enrich that reptiles (Wilson, 2005); birds (Pizzey & Knight, understanding (McNiven & Hitchcock, 2004). 2003); mammals (Menkhorst & Knight, 2001). NAMES THE TERRESTRIAL VERTEBRATES Some clarification of the names used here for The following information is mostly taken species is necessary. The scientific names are from published literature and from databases given in italics. This is an universally agreed in the public domain (listed in Appendix 1) upon scientific language so that animals can and from my visit to the island in November be referred to by one name. This is to avoid the 2004, which included the performance of small confusion that can happen when one animal mammal trapping. can have different names across the different languages – even within one language. At first, To date, to my knowledge, 213 terrestrial vert these scientific names were in Latin; however ebrates have been recorded from the island more recently local names have been accepted (Appendix 1). This is a large and varied insular within the scientific discipline. fauna. I comment on the frogs, reptiles, birds and mammals below. As well, I have given their common or English names. The agreement on these names is not FROGS. Six species of frogs have been recorded. as universal. As well, some animals are more All these species of frogs breed in temporary known to scientists than to the majority of the pools formed by inundation from rain and have population and do not have common names. freeliving tadpoles. However, they can breed 496 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENSLAND MUSEUM in the shallow edges of dams. All the species stayed there for over five months at the beginning also occur on mainland Australia. Frogs are poor of last century. William Maclennan collected for crossers of salt water (Cameron et al., 1984) and H.L White from 1 November 1919 to 13 April their presence suggests that they were in the area 1920 (Campbell, 1920; Whittell, 1954). already when rising sea levels separated the island As well, last century, Draffan et al. (1983) of Mua from the New Guinea and Australian compiled all the known bird records for the mainlands. Research suggests that Australia was island to that time. In that work they also connected to New Guinea until about 10,000 discuss all the islands of Torres Strait and make years ago, and present sea levels were reached conclusions about the ecology and distribution about 6000 years ago, although minor fluctuations of the region’s birds. Importantly, they con may have occurred since then (Thom & Chappell, cluded that the number of species of birds on 1975). the individual islands in Torres Strait was a The introduced Cane Toad (Bufo marinus) has reflection of the number of different habitats on not yet reached the islands. However, it breeds the islands more than the sizes of the islands. in similar habitat to the preceding species. It is From data on statuses of birds in Torres Strait, important that quarantine procedures avoid the about 43% of the birds on Mua are resident, 31% inadvertent introduction of this pest. are migratory, 17% are regular visitors and 9% are nomadic. Ingram et al. (1986) have discussed REPTILES. Thirtyfour species have been the movement of birds through Torres Strait recorded. This is a large number of reptilian based on bird kills at Booby Island lighthouse. species. Notable is the presence of the Emerald They noted that migratory birds move through Monitor (Varinus prasinus) which is present the islands in two peak periods: September and in New Guinea but not on mainland Australia. April to May. For water birds, there were two Mua is the southern limit of its distribution in peak periods, in January and in May, which usually Australia. approximates the beginning and end of the wet The House Gecko (Hemidactylus frenatus) season. appears to be a very recent introduction to the Torres Strait and Queensland. It is now a MAMMALS. Eighteen species of mammals common lizard throughout the islands but it have been recorded from Mua: mostly species was not recorded from them in the 19th century of bats and rodents. This is enigmatic and raises by Macleay (1877) – but he did record it from questions as to what mammals might have Papua New Guinea (as Peripia papuensis – see originally occurred in the area of Mua prior to Cogger, 1983). However, whether or not this the sea level rises that created the island during species is actually introduced to Australia is the Holocene. difficult to conclude. Gray (1845) refers to the Most of these species could have colonised from lizard as occurring at Port Essington, Northern elsewhere. Bats are aerial and can cross water Territory (as Hemidactylus vittatus – see Cogger, while the Water Rat (Hydromys chrysogaster) is at 1983). Thus, it has been in this country for over home in marine situations close to shore. The other 160 years. rodent, Grassland Melomys (Melomys burtoni) can definitely colonise islands because the species is For the native species, it appears that most of present throughout Torres Strait even on coral sand these species would have been present on Mua islands, which are recent in origin. However, the when it became an island. In fact, for some of presence of Short-beaked Echidna and bandicoots the small species of skinks, it has been noted (McNiven and Hitchcock 2004) and Delicate that some of the island populations differ from Mouse, which have not been identified as each other in size and colouration (Ingram and water crossers, suggests that some species of Covacevich 1988, 1989). mammals were there before sea level changes. BIRDS. In Appendix 1, 155 birds are listed as As well, the presence of Agile Wallaby occurring on the island. Many of the species (Macropus agilis) teeth in archaeological are migratory or nomadic (about 40) but many excavations (Bruno David, pers. comm., 2007) are also resident. Birds are the best-known of on Mua also implies that a grazing marsupial the terrestrial vertebrate fauna of Torres Strait. herbivore may have been part of the island And Mua’s birds are probably the best known fauna. It is not extant there today. Abbott (1980) of all the islands because an excellent bird collector suggested that the land owners of the Torres GELAM’S HOMELAND 497 Strait islands most likely hunted out macropods The effects of the Strait on the faunas of the such as these wallabies. two land masses are probably still to come or are occurring now imperceptibly. Draffan et al. Even so, it is possible that the wallaby and (1983) noted that 15 species of birds that occurred bandicoot were translocated by Torres Strait in New Guinea and mainland Australia did not Islanders around the Strait.