New Guinea, the world's largest and highest tropical island, has more than 530 species of amphibians and reptiles, about 5% of the world total. However, much of New Guinea remains poorly known and it is estimated that as many as 200 species remain unknown to science. This project focuses on inventorying unexplored regions of Papua New Guinea, a country that occupies the eastern half of the island of New Guinea as well as associated archipelagos to the north.
The principal investigators will conduct intensive inventories of amphibians and reptiles of ten major unstudied areas, provide logistical support for concordant studies of mammals, land snails, scorpions, aquatic insects and other groups, train at least five Papua New Guinea citizens as parataxonomists, and supervise two Papua New Guinea graduate students in research being done as requirements for Master's Degrees.
This study will result in the description of new species, a much better understanding of the fauna (particularly its evolution and biogeography), compilation of a comprehensive spatial database on the distribution of species, and publication of illustrated field guides with keys. It also will provide essential information for conservation planning, and will help advance and refine biodiversity predictive modeling methodology (BIORAP) that uses locality information from museum specimen collections to identify priority areas for conservation.
