BIOLOGICAL INVENTORY OF KOOLAN ISLAND, WESTERN AUTRALIA 2. ZOOLOGICAL NOTES

WA Museum Records and Supplements | Updated 1 decade ago

Abstract - In terms of its biota, Koolan is the most thoroughly inventoried island on the Kimberley coast. We provide annotated lists of the animal species known from the island: three earthworms, eight land snails, two scorpions, one centipede, nine spiders, two ants, 34 butterflies, one amphibian, 35 reptiles, 116 birds and 18 mammals. In addition, the W.A. Museum holds unsorted collections of moths and beetles. A range of animals have been introduced, including an earthworm Dichogaster bolaui, a land snail Laevicaulis alte, an ant (Monomorium destructor), a cockroach and four mammals including the feral goat (Capra hircus). Koolan's indigenous fauna is a sub-set of taxa known from the adjacent mainland, although the blind snake Ramphotyphlops yampiensis, and the land snails Kimboraga koolanensis and Amplirhagada astuta, appear to be endemic to the island. The bird list was accumulated during 10 years of monthly observations, but data on other components of the island's fauna are uneven because of sampling artefacts, with a bias towards large land snails, large butterflies and snakes. Nevertheless, the richness of these groups indicates that the numerous rugged sandstone islands along this tropical sub-humid coastline support complex faunas.