New fauna and flora found in Waigeo

SORONG, Papua: A team of researchers from universities in the province, the forestry agency and the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) have discovered a number of species of rare flora and fauna on Raja Ampat island.

The director of Conservation International in Papua, Suer Suryadi, said here on Wednesday the discoveries comprised 116 species of plants, 111 ferns, 20 types of bats, 16 frogs, 16 mollusks, 16 lizards and seven kinds of snakes. Of the plant species, 37 are classified as very rare.

Many of the species discovered on the island are not contained in the Zoological Museum in Bogor.

Waigeo is one of a cluster of cluster of Raja Ampat islets, including Missol, Batanta and Salawati. It boasts a wide variety of animal species, though many face extinction due to environmental damage resulting from forest concessions and human settlement.--Antara