Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand abstracts

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Biogeography and ecology of the landsnail faunas of North East, South West and West Islands, Three Kings Group, Northern New Zealand

F. J. Brook*

*Department of Conservation, PO Box 842, Whangarei, New Zealand

The faunal composition and species distributions of the landsnails of North East, South West and West islands of the Three Kings group are described. A total of 26 landsnail species is recorded from the three islands (21 on South West, 17 on North East, 11 on West) of which 24 species are endemic to the Three Kings group and five species are single island endemics (three on South West, one on each of North East and West). Within-island landsnail faunal diversities are highest in broadleaf forest and lowest in taupata (Coprosma repens) shrubland and kanuka (Kunzea ericoides) forest. Rock rubble habitats are important refugia for some of the rarer landsnail species on North East and South West islands. The nature of environmental changes on the three islands over the last few hundred years, and their influence on landsnail faunas, is discussed.

Keywords: landsnails; Three Kings Islands; island biogeography; biodiversity

(c) Journal of The Royal Society of New Zealand,

Volume 29, Number 1, March 1999, pp 1-21

PDF file of entire paper: medium quality (1361K); (scanned from paper original: notes about this process)

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