Dendrolagus matschiei

Goodfellow's tree kangaroo (Dendrolagus matschiei (goodfellowi)). (Photograph by Hope Rutledge)

Source;
https://www.eoearth.org/image/Kanga.jpg
http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=Dendrolagus%20matschiei&w=all

New Orchid Discovered in Papua New Guinea

The World Wildlife Fund Scientists have discovered not one, but several new species of orchid species in the forests of Papua New Guinea.

Here is one of their discoveries, Cadetia kutubu, named after the nearby Lake Kutubu.

Source:

http://www.guy-sports.com/humor/pictures/picture_orchid.htm

New Orchid species discovered in rain forest

With their spectacular colours, delicate petals and extraordinary shapes, orchids have long been the most prized of flowers. In times gone by people even died in pursuit of these rare, exotic blooms.

Now conservationists have made a discovery that would make any orchid hunter weep with joy - up to 28 new species of the flower. Eight of them are already confirmed as brand new plants that have never been seen before.

Among them is a stunning orchid with a delicate star-shaped flower and another that has bright white petals dabbed with vivid fuschia. The team have also recently found another 20 orchids in the same area and are now busy trying to verify whether these too are newly-discovered species.

Conservationists say the discovery of so many new orchids in the unexplored rainforests of Papua New Guinea is incredibly exciting - especially as around 70 species have recently been wiped out in neighbouring Indonesia.

They are now appealing for renewed efforts to protect the Kikori region where the orchids were found to ensure these flowers and other unique species are not destroyed.

The flowers mark the culmination of a long-term study by the WWF charity going back as far as 1998 of tropical rainforest in the country. Papua New Guinea occupies the eastern half of the tropical island of New Guinea - the other half belonging to Indonesia - which lies to the north of Australia.

Some 85 per cent of the country is covered in tropical rainforest home to a combination of Asian and Australian species including birds of paradise and the extraordinary tree kangaroo. Papua New Guinea is also known to have more recorded species of orchid than any other country in the world.

Wayne Harris, a botanist from Queensland Herbarium and one of the leading experts on orchids said: 'The island of New Guinea is an incredible goldmine of orchids.

'There are over 3,000 known species found here with countless varieties yet to be discovered.'

Olo Gebia a WWF forest ecologist said the finding of the new species was very good news. 'The discovery of such as large number of new species is incredibly exciting,' he said.

He said around 70 species that used to exist in the neighbouring forests of Indonesia have died out because of illegal logging. 'The sad reality is that many of these plants including those which may contain cures to some of the world's most deadly diseases may become extinct before they have even been discovered - this gives even greater urgency to ensuring the long-term conservation of the remarkable Kikori region.'

The WWF is working to help conserve the Kikori region which is home to 20,000 people who rely on the bounties of its forests and streams for their livelihood and food.

Two new Wildlife Management Areas, protecting significant areas of rainforest, are due to be announced in a week's time to help extend the amount of protected land in the country.

Orchids, because of the shape of their petals and tubers, have been connected with sex for 2,000 years and have been used as an aphrodisiac.

In the past their beauty and rarity has prompted hunters to scour the globe for them even risking their lives in the process.

More than one collector has fallen to his death trying to dislodge those growing trees and some have even ventured into landmine-scattered areas of Vietnam to collect rare orchids.

In his 1939 book, Orchid Hunters, Norman Macdonald wrote: 'When a man falls in love with orchids, he'll do anything to possess the one he wants.

'It's like chasing a green-eyed woman or taking cocaine...It's a sort of madness.'

Source:

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/article-23370896-details/New+Orchid+species+discovered+in+rain+forest/article.do

Photo New orchid species from Papua New Guinea

Open mouth

Scientists working with the conservation group WWF have discovered stunning orchid species in the forests of Papua New Guinea. They say eight are definitely new species, and a further 20-odd may prove to be new to science as well.

The discoveries include the succulent bloom of Cadetia kutubu, named after Lake Kutubu in its home region.

Lone star

Papua New Guinea is incredibly rich in orchids. Of some 25,000 species known worldwide, 3,000 come from PNG.

This delicate star-like specimen, a new and as yet un-named species of Taeniophyllum, adds one more to the list.

Red dawn

This new find is a member of the Dendrobium family (D. cuthbertsonii), most of which are epiphytic, living on trees rather than on the ground.

Breeders have created many articial varieties of Dendrobium, including kimilsungia, named after the former North Korean leader.

Delicate flower

The colours are gorgeous, the structure awesome; did the best Venetian glass-blowers ever conjure anything as delicate as Dendrobium spectabile?

The name says it all.

Peacock plant

The orchid family boasts many of the most outrageously showy blooms in the plant kingdom; and Bulbophyllum masdevalliaceum has all the family traits.

More than 1,800 Bulbophyllum species have been described worldwide, but PNG is their "evolutionary homeland", containing one third of known species.

Fishy face

As well as orchids such as this un-named Cadetia species, new mammals, fish, and insects turn up regularly in the region.

But many species have probably been wiped out by deforestation and human encroachment before they could be described.

WWF and its partners are working with the PNG authorities to protect important conservation areas.

Source:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/spl/hi/pop_ups/06/sci_nat_orchid_spectacular/html/8.stm

Eight New Orchid Species Found in Papua New Guinea

Excerpt from original article published October 18, 2006—-

Scientists from the conservation nonprofit WWF discovered at least eight new species of orchid while surveying previously unexplored forests in the Kikori region on the southern coast of New Guinea’s principal island.

Over the course of three expeditions, the scientists collected some 300 orchid species, 8 of which have been confirmed as new to science, with 20 more still awaiting verification as new varieties.

“There are over 3,000 known species found here with countless varieties undoubtedly yet to be discovered.”

Read the full article and find more photos at National Geographic.com.

—Photograph © WWF/Wayne Harris

Source:
http://zaxy.wordpress.com/2007/07/21/eight-new-orchid-species-found-in-papua-new-guinea/

New Orchids Found in Papua New Guinea Rainforest

GLAND, Switzerland, October 16, 2006 (ENS) - At least eight new species of orchid have been discovered in tropical rainforests of Papua New Guinea, the international conservation group WWF announced today. The group is awaiting verifcation on as many as 20 other potentionally new orchids, which were found in previously unexplored parts of the Kikori region surrounding Lake Kutubu, an area internationally recognized as a biodiversity hotspot.

"The island of New Guinea is an incredible goldmine of orchids," says Wayne Harris, a botanist from Queensland Herbarium and one of the world's leading authorities on orchids. "There are over 3,000 known species found here with countless varieties undoubtedly yet to be discovered."

One of eight new orchid species recently discovered in WWF researchers. (Photo by Wayne Harris courtesy WWF)

The findings mark the culmination of a long-term WWF study of the species within the Kikori region. The expeditions, which took place between 1998 and 2006, have added significantly to the known floral diversity found on the island of New Guinea.

The region is one of the last areas in Papua New Guinea that includes a marked variety of different forest habitats. Along with orchid and other plant-life, the forests are home to a wealth of bird species, including birds of paradise and giant cassowaries, as well as rare fish, mammals and lizards.

Papua New Guinea already has more recorded orchid species than any other country in the world. The discoveries come amid evidence that the world continues to lose animal and plant species - including orchids.

Some 70 species of orchid that used to exist in the forests of neighboring Indonesia have become extinct because of illegal logging, said WWF forest ecologist Olo Gebia.

Papua New Guinea is renowned for its enormous variety of orchids. (Photo by Brent Stirton courtesy Getty Images / WWF-UK)

"The discovery of such a large number of new orchid species is incredibly exciting," Gebia said. "The sad reality is that many of these plants, including those which may contain cures to some of the world's most deadly diseases, may become extinct before they have even been discovered - this gives even greater urgency to ensuring the long-term conservation of the remarkable Kikori region."

The announcement comes just a week ahead of the official launch of two new Wildlife Management Areas, protecting significant areas of rainforest where these orchids have been found. The establishment of these Wildlife Management Areas is an important milestone in the program to strengthen the system of protected areas in PNG.

WWF, together with the Kutubu Joint Venture Partnership, is working towards the long-term conservation of the Kikori region and the remarkable diversity of plants and animals that it supports.

In addition to remarkable diversity in plant and animal species, the small island is also a center of cultural diversity. More than 20,000 people, from twelve different ethnic groups, live in the area and rely on the natural resources of its forests and streams for their subsistence livelihood.

The discovery of the new orchid comes in the wake of several other announcements of new species. Last week conservationist described a new bird found in northern Colombia. Last month researchers announced 52 new marine species had been found off the coast of the Indonesian island of Papua - a new bird was also found in northeastern India, the first new bird species found in that country in more than half a century.

Source:

http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/oct2006/2006-10-16-01.asp

Photo The best Bird of paradise

The Bird of Paradise is one of the rarest birds in the world found in Papua New Guinea. It is very elusive and make it's habitat up in the highlands far away from villagers. (Best viewed large)
Alec Ee

Source:
http://photo.net/photodb/photo?photo_id=2271187&size=lg

King of Saxony bird of paradise

Source:
http://www.surfbirds.com/cgi-bin/gallery/search2.cgi?species=&photographer=&location=&county=papua%20new%20guinea

http://www.tropicalbirding.com/tripReports/TR_PNG_2007/TR_PNG_2007.htm

http://homepage.mac.com/maruhuku/yasei2/Bird-of-Paradise/King-of-Saxony-BOP.jpg

Twelve-wired Bird-of-paradise (Seleucidis melanoleucus)

Source:
www.flickr.com

blue bird of paradise

source:
http://www.flickr.com

“Bird unseen for 80 years found”

Images of the floral banded wobbegong (top) and Dwarf spotted wobbegong. Courtesy of DoF.
Source: “Two shark species discovered”

A bird species not seen for 80 years has been rediscovered near Papua New Guinea. The Beck’s petrel (Pseudobulweria becki), long thought to be extinct, was photographed last summer by an Israeli ornithologist in the Bismarck Archipelago, a group of islands northeast of New Guinea.

Source:
“Bird unseen for 80 years found”
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/03/07/europe/EU-BRITAIN-SCI-Britain-Lost-Bird.php

Scientists find new species: Giant rat, tiny possum

Conservation International reports that scientists have discovered what they believe are two new species hidden inside a tropical forest in New Guinea.

The Cercartetus pygmy possum and Mallomys giant rat were encountered during an exhibition to the Foja Mountains in western New Guinea.

"It’s comforting to know that there is a place on earth so isolated that it remains the absolute realm of wild nature," Bruce Beehler, the scientist who led the expedition, says in a statement. "We were pleased to see that this little piece of Eden remains as pristine and enchanting as it was when we first visited."

Source :
http://blogs.usatoday.com/ondeadline/2007/12/scientists-find.html

Guinea Fowl

Source :
http://www.pbase.com/dougj/image/17381061

Pteridophora alberti - Bird of Paradise

Pteridophora alberti
Plumes such as the King of Saxony's graceful head ribbons offer ancestral strength to the people who wear them, according to local belief.

Source:
http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2007/07/birds-of-paradise/laman-photography

Drepanornis albertisi - Bird of Paradise

Drepanornis albertisi
Rarely witnessed and never before photographed, a buff-tailed sicklebill shows off its pectoral collar to a female watching from above. The sicklebill's long curved beak helps it probe trees and leaf litter for insects that make up the bulk of its diet.

Source:
http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2007/07/birds-of-paradise/laman-photography

Cicinnurus respublica - Bird of Paradise

Cicinnurus respublica

… Then, with whispered buzzes and clicks, he flashes his chest and shakes his handlebar mustache of a tail.

Colorful as a court jester—and almost as comical—a male Wilson's bird of paradise woos a mate. He begins by clearing his perch...

Source:
http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2007/07/birds-of-paradise/laman-photography

Manucodia comrii - Bird of Paradise

Manucodia comrii
All birds of paradise descend from crow-like ancestors, but only manucodes still look the part. Males and females are nearly identical and likely monogamous, unlike their flashy, flirtatious kin.

Source:
http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2007/07/birds-of-paradise/laman-photography

Astrapia stephaniae - Bird of Paradise

Astrapia stephaniae
Foraging on its own, a Stephanie's astrapia's long black tail feathers, green head, and short bill make it easy to identify.

Source:
http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2007/07/birds-of-paradise/laman-photography

Seleucidis melanoleuca

Seleucidis melanoleuca
A male twelve-wired bird of paradise ensures a solo performance by displaying and calling from a dead snag, its stage of choice.

Source:
http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2007/07/birds-of-paradise/laman-photography

Cicinnurus magnificus - Bird of Paradise

Cicinnurus magnificus
Far more vivid than its crow-like ancestor, a magnificent bird of paradise perches on a branch in its mountainous New Guinea habitat.

Source:
http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2007/07/birds-of-paradise/laman-photography