Living the Scientific Life (Scientist, Interrupted)

Camiguin Hanging-parrot, or Colasisi, Loriculus camiguinensis,
is newly described and is found only found on the Philippine Island of Camiguin.
This tiny island is especially rich in biodiversity but is increasingly threatened
by logging, agriculture and human settlement.
Click image for much larger view in its own window.
Note: this a live pet.

Photo by Thomas Arndt, Courtesy of The Field Museum of Natural History.

Hey, dear readers, a colleague of mine, Jose Tello, co-discovered a new species of parrot that is only found on South Pacific island of Camiguin (map, below), and this species is the sister group to the Psittacines that I studied!

The island of Camiguin (photo below, left), created by seven volcanoes (one is still active) is only 265 square kilometers (102 square miles) in size. This island is the smallest of the Philippine island group that is known to support endemic vertebrate species. There are approximately 7,000 islands in the Philippines. Camiguin has always been isolated from its neighbors, even when sea levels dropped 120 meters (130 yards) below current levels in the Pleistocene. This isolation allowed speciation to occur undisturbed. But this island ecosystem and its inhabitants are in grave danger from deforestation, the researchers warned in their paper.

Lawrence Heaney, curator of mammals at The Field Museum in Chicago, said that Camiguin was once covered in rainforest but, by 2001, only 18 per cent of the island remained forested. A favored diving location, Camiguin's resources are being destroyed due to logging, agriculture, and human settlement. Further, nearly half of the island is covered with coconut plantations.

"Knowing that at least 54 species of birds and at least 24 species of mammals live on Camiguin, and that some of these animals are found nowhere else on earth, makes us realize how important this island is in terms of conservation," Heaney said.

"Unfortunately, the Philippines has also vaulted into notoriety as one of the most severely deforested tropical countries in the world," said Blas Tabaranza, Jr., Director of the Terrestrial Ecosystems Project of the Haribon Foundation, a Philippine conservation organization in Manila.

The newly described hanging parrot, known as the Colasisi by locals and dubbed by researchers as the Camiguin hanging-parrot, Loriculus camiguinensis (pictured, top), is paler in color than other species in this group. Most of its body is covered with pale yellow-green feathers, the nape of the neck is olive-green, the throat, legs and undertail feathers are sky-blue, and the top of the head and tail are brilliant scarlet-orange. This species is unique among the Loriculus parrots because it is monomorphic, meaning that male and female plumage patterns appear to be identical. Loriculus parrots primarily feed on fruits, nectar and small insects.

The newly described rodent is a Philippine forest mouse, Apomys camiguinensis, discovered high on the steep slopes of one of the island's volcanoes. It has large eyes and ears, a long tail and rusty-brown fur, and it feeds mostly on insects and seeds.

The parrot was known to the locals because they prize it as a pet, but the mouse was new to them, too.

Interestingly, the parrot had been under scientists' noses for decades: it was described from 23 specimens (19 males and 4 females) that had been in several museum collections since the 1960s. The birds were collected from elevations between 300 and 1350 meters on Camiguin.

"This description is based on a series of specimens that had been part of The Field Museum's collections for almost 40 years, so our work highlights the value of collecting and preserving specimens, because you may not initially realize the significance of specimens," said John Bates, Curator of Birds and Chair of Zoology at The Field Museum.

Heaney pointed out that these new discoveries strengthen the case for preserving the small area of natural rain forest still found on the island. This species is significantly larger than nearby populations of L. philippensis, which was originally assumed to be a variant.

Despite its small size, the island of Camiguin is extraordinarily rich in biodiversity. Previously, a different species of forest-dwelling rodent, Bullimus gamay, was found on Mt. Timpoong in 2002. This is the same mountain where the new mouse species was collected. A frog, Oreophryne nana, was described from this island in 1967 and, at the time, was thought to be the only endemic vertebrate on Camiguin. However, there are four unique vertebrate species now described from this small island so far.

"Very few states in the United States, and few countries in Europe, have four endemic species of vertebrates," Heaney observed. "And it is almost certain that other organisms on Camiguin are also endemic; they just have not been studied yet."

This report appeared in yesterday's issue of the peer-reviewed scientific journal, Fieldiana: Zoology, that focuses on biodiversity research and is published by The Field Museum in Chicago.

Sources

Jose Tello.

A New Species of Hanging-Parrot (Aves: Psittacidae: Loriculus) from Camiguin Island, Philippines (2006). Tello, JG; Degner JF; Bates, JM; and DE Willard. Fieldiana: Zoology 106 (5 April 2006):49-57.

Press release, The Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago.

Photos courtesy of the Field Museum of Chicago or are linked from the source (click image to be magically transported to the source). Map linked from source.