Twenty-five brand new bugs from Barrow Island and neighbouring areas of WA's northwest have been described in the latest Records of the Western Australian Museum.
The Terrestrial Invertebrates Fauna of Barrow Island volume describes 25 new species including a snail, two spiders, a silverfish and 21 flies, and one new genus of wolf spider.
WA Museum Head of Terrestrial Zoology, Mark Harvey, said the new volume, sponsored by Chevron Australia, contains 22 scientific papers written by a total of 43 authors using data from more than 20 years of collecting.
“The staggering diversity of animals in Western Australia continues to amaze us, but finding the resources to fully document and describe these species is a continuing challenge,” Dr Harvey said.
“This is the most comprehensive survey of terrestrial invertebrates on any island in Australia, and ably demonstrates Chevron Australia’s commitment to understanding the biodiversity of Barrow Island before, during and after the development of the gas processing plant and associated infrastructure on the island.
“The process to formally describe a new species is long and slow, but ultimately rewarding when the scientific paper is finally published.”
To date, almost 2,800 species of terrestrial and subterranean species have been recorded from Barrow Island.
These include 378 native plant species; 13 mammal species including two species of bats; 119 species of terrestrial and migratory birds; 43 species of terrestrial reptiles; one species of frog; three subterranean vertebrates; 34 species of subterranean invertebrates; and the most speciose of all, over 2,200 terrestrial invertebrates.
The supplement in the latest Records of the Western Australian Museum was edited by Dr Nihara Gunawardene, Prof. Jonathan Majer and Dr Christopher Taylor from Curtin University, and the WA Museum’s Dr Mark Harvey, and designed and produced by the Western Australian Museum Publications.
The Terrestrial Invertebrates Fauna of Barrow Island volume will be launched this evening at the opening of Chevron Australia’s Big Bugs of Barrow photographic exhibition, which is open to the public daily until 22 November and located in the foyer of the QV1 Building on St Georges Terrace, Perth.
The volume is available for purchase from the WA Museum website: http://museum.wa.gov.au/store/museum-books/supplements/supplement-83-terrestrial-invertebrate-fauna-barrow-island
Media Contact:
Niki Comparti
WA Museum
6552 7805
niki.comparti@museum.wa.gov.au
