John Stanisic

Biogeographical concordance and efficiency of taxon indicators for establishing conservation priority in a tropical rainforest biota

Prioritizing areas for conservation requires the use of surrogates for assessing overall patterns of biodiversity. Effective surrogates will reflect general biogeographical patterns and the evolutionary processes that have given rise to these and their efficiency is likely to be influenced by several factors, including the spatial scale of species turnover and the overall congruence of the biogeographical history. We examine patterns of surrogacy for insects, snails, one family of plants and vertebrates from rainforests of northeast Queensland, an area characterized by high endemicity and an underlying history of climate–induced vicariance. Nearly all taxa provided some level of prediction of the conservation values for others. However, despite an overall correlation of the patterns of species richness and complementarity, the efficiency of surrogacy was highly asymmetric; snails and insects were strong predictors of conservation priorities for vertebrates, but not vice versa. These results confirm predictions that taxon surrogates can be effective in highly diverse tropical systems where there is a strong history of vicariant biogeography, but also indicate that correlated patterns for species richness and/or complementarity do not guarantee that one taxon will be efficient as a surrogate for another. In our case, the highly diverse and narrowly distributed invertebrates were more efficient as predictors than the less diverse and more broadly distributed vertebrates.

The Emo site (OAC), Gulf Province, Papua New Guinea: Resolving long-standing questions of antiquity and implications for the history of the ancestral Hiri maritime trade

Abstract Since the 1970s the site of Emo (aka ‘Samoa’, ‘OAC’) in the Gulf Province of Papua New Guinea has been cited as one of the earliest-known ceramic sites from the southern Papuan lowlands. This site has long been seen as holding c.2000 year old evidence of post-Lapita long-distance maritime trade from (Austronesian-speaking) Motu homelands in the Central Province, where pottery was manufactured, to the (non-Austronesian) Gulf Province some 400km to the west where pottery was received and for which large quantities of sago were exchanged (the ancestral hiri trade). However, until now the only three radiocarbon dates available for Emo were out of chronostratigraphic sequence, and few details on the site had been published. This paper presents the results of new excavations and the first detailed series of AMS radiocarbon determinations from Emo, thereby resolving long-standing uncertainties about the age of the site and its implications for the antiquity of the long-distance Motuan hiri maritime trade.

Tigershark Rockshelter (Baidamau Mudh) : Seascape and Settlement Reconfigurations on the Sacred Islet of Pulu, Western Zenadh Kes (Torres Strait)

Abstract Tigershark Rockshelter, a small midden site on the sacred islet of Pulu in central western Zenadh Kes (Torres Strait), was visited intermittently by small groups of marine specialists between 500 and 1300 years ago. The diverse faunal assemblage demonstrates procurement of turtle, dugong, shellfish, fish, shark and ray from mangrove, reef and open water environments. Apart from a characteristic flaked quartz technology, the site contains shell body adornments. Establishment of Tigershark Rockshelter reveals increasing preference for shoreline settlements possibly for enhanced intervisibility, intimacy and liminality between newlyconceptualised territorial land- and seascapes. Intensified occupation 500–700 years ago matches concomitant demographic expansions across the region. As local settlement patterns focused on large open village sites 500 years ago, Tigershark Rockshelter became obsolete and was abandoned. These settlement reconfigurations were part of broader social transformations that eventually saw the status of Pulu change from a residential to a ceremonial and sacred place.

Historicising The Present: Late Holocene Emergence of a Rainforest Hunting Camp, Gulf Province, Papua New Guinea

Abstract Historicising the emergence of ethnographic activities provides insights into the reliability of ethnographic analogies to aid archaeological understandings of past human societies, as well as allowing us to explore the historical emergence of ethnographically contextualised cultural traits. Epe Amoho is the largest hunting camp rockshelter used by the Himaiyu clan (Rumu people) of the Kikori River region, southern Papua New Guinea. Contemporary ethnographic information indicates dry season site use with subsistence practices directed towards riverine fishing and shellfishing, mammal hunting and gardening in the surrounding rainforest. But how long has the site been used and when in the past did activities start to resemble those known ethnographically? Archaeological excavations revealed three pulses of activity: Recent Phase (0-500 cal BP), Middle Phase (900-1200 cal BP) and Early Phase (2500-2850 cal BP). Pollen data reveal increasing rainforest disturbance by people through time. While the best match between ethnographic and archaeological practices occurs during the Recent Phase, selected aspects of Rumu subsistence extend back to the Early Phase. As the temporal depth of ethnographically-known practices differs between archaeological sites, a complex picture emerges where Rumu cultural practices unfolded at differing points in time and space over a period of at least 3000 years.

The Carnivorous Land Snail Gulella (Huttonella) bicolor (Hutton, 1834) in Australia (Pulmonata : Streptaxidae)

Summary The streptaxid, Culella (Huttonella) bicolor (Hutton) is recorded from Australia for the first time. Th is species has been spread widely through tropical areas of the world by commerce. The implications of its presence in Australia are briefly discussed. A description of the shell together with figures are presented.

Revision of the land snail genus Pallidelix Iredale, 1933 with the description of new species from the central highlands of inland Queensland (Gastropoda: Eupulmonata: Camaenidae)

Pallidelix Iredale, 1933 is revised on the basis of conchological and anatomical morphology. Nine new species Pallidelix lonesome sp. nov., P. expeditiana sp. nov., P. potteri sp. nov., P. staricki sp. nov., P. lambkinae sp. nov., P. moffatt sp. nov., P. grandis sp. nov., P. minerva sp. nov. and P. zamia sp. nov. are described. Penial pilaster patterns and shell sculpture were considered significant species delimiting characters. A key to species is presented. Two species are shown to have relatively widespread distributions while the majority have small circumscribed distributions in scattered and isolated patches of vine thicket. Two species placed in Pallidelix by Stanisic et al. (2010) from south-eastern Queensland, viz. H. bennetti Brazier 1872 and P. chinchilla Stanisic, 2010 are herein excluded from the genus. As part of this revision the taxonomic status of the problematic Helix expeditionis Cox, 1868 (considered a synonym of P. greenhilli by Stanisic et al. 2010) is also discussed.  Pallidelix, Eupulmonata, Camaenidae, revision, systematics, morphology, new species, Queensland, Australia.

A new genus and two new species of land snail from geographically remote lithorefugial habitats in Queensland, including a remarkable range extension for Quistrachia Iredale, 1939 (Gastropoda: Eupulmonata: Camaenidae)

One new genus and two new species of camaenid are described from geographically remote lithorefugial habitats in Queensland. The two habitats have contrasting environments characterised by radically different geology, climate and vegetation. Lorelliana gen. nov. is introduced to accommodate L. hoskini sp. nov. from the high rainfall, rainforest peppered, granitic lithorefugia of Cape Melville, Cape York Peninsula. Quistrachia nevbrownlowi sp. nov. is described from the quartzic limestone refugia of the low rainfall, often drought affected, spinifex grassland of Mt Unbunmaroo (= Black Mountain), south-western Queensland. The survival of each species is discussed in relation to the significance of lithorefugia as habitat for land snails in otherwise snail-hostile environments.  new genus, new species, Gastropoda, Camaenidae, lithorefugia.

Studies on the Charopidae of tropical and subtropical Australia. I. Oreokera: A primitive genus from the high mountains of North Queensland (Mollusca : Pulmonata: Charopidae)

Abstract The charopid genus Oreokera is shown to be an invalidly introduced taxon. It is herein formally validated and redefined. The genus contains two species found only on the summits of the high mountains of north-east Queensland. The type species, Oreokera cumulus (Odhner, 1917) is redescribed and refigured on the basis of newly dissected topotypic material. A new species, Oreokera nimbus from Thornton Peak, is figured and described. Oreokera is identified as a primitive taxon among the Charopidae by the absence of a closed secondary ureter in either O. cumulus or O. nimbus. The relationships of the genus are discussed and some comments made on its biogeographic status.

Helix parramattensis Cox, 1864: A Synonym of Euconulus (Euconulus) fulvus (Muller, 1774) (Pulmonata : Euconulidae)

Summary A critical examination of the species Turrisitala parramattensis (Cox), an euconulid land snail found in the Sydney region of N.S.W., revealed that this species is identical with the holarctic species Euconulus (E.) fulvus (Muller). This discovery represents the first record of E. fulvus from New South Wales. The only previous record of E. fulvus from Australia was from the Cann River district, Victoria (Gabriel, 1928). A description and a figure of E. fulvus based on the New South Wales material are given.