Checklist and Comments on the Terrestrial Reptile Fauna of Kau Wildlife Area, Papua New Guinea

The island of New Guinea has been identified as a megadiverse region because of its extraordinary biodiversity and highly endemic biota (Mittermeier and Mittermeier 1997). New Guinea, the world’s largest and highest tropical island, occupies less than 1% of global land area yet 5–7% of the world’s biodiversity is found on the island (Beehler 1993; Dinerstein and Wikramanayake 1993; Mack 1998; Myers et al. 2000). The herpetofauna of New Guinea currently known to science accounts for about 5% of the world’s reptile and amphibian diversity (Allison et al. 1998). Remarkably, this is an underestimate of true diversity; it is predicted that 30–60% of the reptile and amphibian fauna of New Guinea remains unknown to science (Allison 1993). The vast diversity of biological life on New Guinea is a result of the island’s diverse topography, extensive range of habitat types, and complex geological history. With elevations ranging from sea level to over 5000 m, the varied habitat zones, packed into an area one-tenth the size of the United States, include relictual tropical glaciers, alpine grasslands, montane moss forests, dense lowland rainforests, sago palm swamps, and eucalypt savannas. The lowland rainforest on the north coast of Papua New Guinea has been severely impacted by logging (Beehler 1993). One of the few areas of lowland rainforest set aside for conservation and scientific study is the Kau Wildlife Area (KWA: 05o09'S, 145o46'E) near the provincial capital of Madang, Madang Province. The KWA is community owned and managed by the Didipa Clan of Kau and Baitabag Villages. The 800-ha KWA reserve is part of the extensive and broadly continuous Northern New Guinea lowland ecoregion that is made up of lowland, freshwater, and peat swamp forests. The lowland forests and freshwater swamps from this ecoregion contain diverse habitats, including lowland and hill forest, grass swamps, swamp forests, savannas, and woodlands (Conn 1995; Gressitt 1982; Henty 1981; Womersley 1978). The KWA, between 20–70 m in elevation, includes primary, successional, and riparian lowland broadleaf-evergreen forest. As many as 155 species of trees have been identified within a 1-ha plot of primary forest in the KWA (Bonaccorso et al. 2002). Dense stands of sago palm (Metroxylon sagu) are found in the low wet areas along the Kau and Biges Rivers. Many areas of the KWA have historically been subjected to traditional shifting fruit and vegetable gardens and many old abandoned garden areas surround the reserve. The climate of this region is wet tropical forest and in nearby Nagada Harbor annual precipitation averaged 3460 mm from 1994–96. The area is typified by distinct wet and dry seasons with less than 100 mm of monthly precipitation from June through August (Bonaccorso et al. 2002). The northern region of New Guinea is a very active tectonic area with a complex geologic history. Over the last 40 million years interplate impact resulted in considerable uplift and volcanism and importantly the accretion of at least 32 tectonostratigraphic terranes along the northern leading edge of the island that have influenced the biodiversity of the region (Pigram and Davies 1987; Polhemus and Polhemus 1998). To date there has been no comprehensive herpetofaunal reports from the KWA. Here I compile a list of terrestrial reptile species present in the KWA based on fieldwork over the past 14 years. The KWA terrestrial reptile fauna, exclusive of crocodylians and turtles, currently includes 25 lizards and 7 snakes representing 8 families and 21 genera (Table 1). A similar compilation is underway for the amphibians of the region (S. Richards, pers. comm.). Specific specimen and locality information as well as associated tissues can be accessed via a searchable database of the LSU Museum of Natural Science reptile and amphibian collection (http:// www.lsu.edu/museum).