Papua New Guinea country study on biological diversity.

Abstract

Endemism refers to species unique to a certain area. Endemism tends to follow biogeographic boundaries determined by geographic factors and evolutionary history. It is important to note that biogeographic boundaries do not correspond with the political boundaries of Papua New Guinea. The western half of the island of New Guinea is the Indonesian State of Irian Jaya. The island of Bougainville is part of Papua New Guinea, but is biogeographically most similar to the Solomon Islands. The same conflict between biogeographic and political boundaries arises across the Torres Strait between the southern part of Papua New Guinea and the northern tip of Queensland, Australia (Kikkawa et al. 1981). Another factor which affects apparent endemism is the level of study which has taken place on particular taxonomic groups, for example, the relatively visible bird species are well-documented, whereas only limited information exists on many invertebrates. Thus, some organisms are known only from a particular place simply because they have not yet been identified elsewhere. At individual sites, high species diversity (absolute number of species) does not necessarily correlate with high numbers of endemic species. Additional information on species which are endemic to Papua New Guinea may be found in the Conservation Needs Assessment report and maps.