Almost two years after ending their expedition to one of the most remote areas in the world, a group of scientists announced Saturday that it has identified a variety of new species, including a Pinocchio-like frog with a long nose, a dwarf wallaby, and several new insects in the Foja Mountains of Indonesia’s Papua province.
One of the scientists, Bruce Beehler, told The Jakarta Post that they have had to wait this long until the participating field scientists have determined what species the animals belonged to. The process, he explained, can take weeks, months, years and even decades.
New species: (clockwise, from top left) The Imperial pigeon, tree mouse, gecko, blossom bat, long-nose tree frog and dwarf walla: Courtesy of Tim Laman/National Geographic and Neville Kemp
“For many of the insects, scientists will probably be describing new species from the Foja Mountains a decade from now because they need to do comparative work to be able to safely describe one new species,” said Beehler, a senior research scientist at the Washington-based Conservation International.
The frog has a protuberance on its nose that points upward when the male is calling, but depletes and points downward when he is less active. It was found by herpetologist Paul Oliver, who spotted the frog sitting on a bag of rice in the campsite.
The 2008 expedition was conducted by international and Indonesian scientists participating in Conservation International’s Rapid Assessment Program. Financial and scientific support for the exhibition came from the National Geographic Society, Smithsonian Institution and the Indonesian Institute of Sciences.
The scientists discovered an oversized wooly rat, a gargoyle-like gecko with bent toes and yellow eyes, an imperial pigeon, and a tiny forest wallaby. They said the wallaby is the smallest member of the kangaroo family documented in the world.
They also found a blossom bat, which feeds on rainforest nectar, a small tree-mouse, a black and white butterfly, and a flowering shrub.
The biggest surprise, according to the announcement, was a sighting of a pair of new imperial pigeons by ornithologist Neville Kemp. It said the pigeon had feathers that appeared rusty, whitish and gray.
The Foja Mountains are part of the Indonesian National Wildlife Sanctuary. However, Beehler hoped that the Indonesian government will consider changing the status of the area to a national park to raise more attention and resources.
“We would also hope that Governor Barnabas Suebu continues to provide strong green leadership in the development of Papua’s wonderful forests and wild lands,” he said.
He said that the biggest threats to the pristine area are road-building and large-scale plantation development, which could open up the Foja Mountains to future degradation.
“It is important for people to know how precious the Foja Mountains area is and how many wonderful species of plants and animals live there and no other place on earth,” he said.
A special feature on the expedition, “Discovery in the Foja Mountains,” appears in the June issue of the National Geographic magazine.
The announcement on Saturday was to mark the 2010 International Day for Biological Diversity. It said that world governments failed to meet the targets agreed to in 2002 to reduce the rate of loss of biodiversity by 2010. In October, the international community will meet in Japan to discuss new targets for the next 40 years.
“While animals and plants are being wiped out across the globe at a pace never seen in millions of years, the discovery of these absolutely incredible forms of life is much needed, positive news,” Beehler said in the statement.
He said places like the Foja Mountains show that it is not too late to stop the current species extinction crisis.
“The societies that preserve their natural resources will be the ones that will have the best quality of life in the future,” said Dr. Beehler.
Discovery of new species proves Indonesia’s rich biodiversity
Adianto P. Simamora, The Jakarta Post 19 May 10;
The recent finding of new species in virgin forests in Papua province confirmed the country’s wealth of biodiversity but threats remain, scientists said.
Scientists warned the swelling population, deforestation and climate change could lead to the loss of precious biodiversity.
Local and international scientists participating in Conservation International’s (CI) Rapid Assessment Program (RAP) have found new mammals, a reptile, an amphibian, a dozen insects and a new bird in a remote forest in the Foja Mountains area in Papua.
“We believe many mysteries of biodiversity remain unmasked in Foja Mountain area,” Hary Sutrisno, the research leader from the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI), told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday.
He said that scientists were racing to uncover more new species, including in Papua, and were fighting the threats of climate change and rapid deforestation.
Scientists discovered a bizarre spike-nosed tree frog, an oversized, but notably tame, woolly rat, a gargoyle-like, bent-toed gecko with yellow eyes, an imperial pigeon and a tiny forest wallaby, the smallest documented marsupial in the world.
Other discoveries recorded in the survey included a new blossom bat that feeds on rainforest nectar, a small new tree-mouse, a new black-and-white butterfly related to the common monarch, and a new flowering shrub.
The Foja Mountains encompass an area of more than 300,000 hectares of undeveloped, and undisturbed rainforest.
Hary said virgin forest in Papua was selected to verify whether biodiversity remained intact in the absence of human activity.
“It will be hard to find new species in Java or Sumatra since most of their forests have been cleared.
The government should pay more attention to protecting new species that have not been recorded yet,”
he said.
CI-Indonesia regional vice president Jatna Supriatna said, “Now that we can show how many unique forms live only in these mountain forests, it is easier for us to make the case that the world at large needs to take note and make absolutely certain that these superb forests are conserved for the well-being of the local forest peoples as well as the world at large.”
Papua Governor Barnabas Suebu warned of the need to conserve Papua’s biodiversity.
“We agree and strongly support the belief that the very high biodiversity areas in Papua should be maintained. Many endemic species in our region are still isolated and difficult to access. They need to be conserved,” he said in a statement.
Forestry Ministry director general for forest protection and nature conservation Darori hailed the
finding.
“We need more details, including estimates of the total number of new species to determine whether to declare it a protected species,” he said.
Indonesia claims to have 12 percent (515 species) of the world’s mammal species, the second-highest after the Brazil, and 17 percent (1,531 species) of total bird species, the fifth-highest in the world.
The government said Indonesia was also home to 15 percent (270 species) of amphibians and reptile species, 31,746 species of vascular plants and 37 percent of the world’s species of fish.
Darori predicted that more than half the biodiversity remained unrecorded.