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Maroon Shining Parrot
The maroon shining parrot or red shining-parrot (''Prosopeia tabuensis''), is a species of parrot in the family Psittaculidae. It is native to the islands of Vanua Levu and Taveuni in Fiji and was introduced to the islands of southern Tonga in prehistoric times. The species is sometimes considered conspecific with the crimson shining parrot of Kadavu. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests and subtropical or tropical mangrove forests. Taxonomy The maroon shining parrot was formally described in 1788 by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in his revised and expanded edition of Carl Linnaeus's ''Systema Naturae''. He placed it with all the other parrots in the genus ''Psittacus'' and coined the binomial name ''Psittacus tabuensis''. Gmelin based his description of the ''Tabuan parrot'' that the English ornithologist John Latham had described and illustrated in 1781 in his ''A General Synopsis of Birds''. The maroon shining parrot is now ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Taveuni
Taveuni (pronounced ) is the third-largest island in Fiji, after Viti Levu and Vanua Levu, with a total land area of . The cigar-shaped island, a massive shield volcano which rises from the floor of the Pacific Ocean, is situated east of Vanua Levu, across the Somosomo Strait. It belongs to the Vanua Levu Group of islands and is part of Fiji's Cakaudrove Province within the Northern Division, Fiji, Northern Division. The island had a population of around 19,000, some 75 per cent of them Fijians, indigenous Fijians, at the 2015 census. Taveuni has abundant flora and is known as the 'Garden Island of Fiji'. It is a popular tourist destination. Tourists are attracted by the excellent diving opportunities, prolific bird life, bushwalks and waterfalls. Central parts of the island receive very high rainfall. Being volcanic in origin, Taveuni's soils have supported the island's most historically significant industry, agriculture. Geography Taveuni is located at the northern end o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Latham (ornithologist)
John Latham (27 June 1740 – 4 February 1837) was an English physician, natural history, naturalist and author. His main works were ''A General Synopsis of Birds'' (1781–1801) and ''A General History of Birds'' (1821–1828). He was able to examine specimens of Australian birds that reached England in the final twenty years of the 18th century, and was responsible for providing English names for many of them. He named some of Australia's most famous birds, including the emu, sulphur-crested cockatoo, wedge-tailed eagle, superb lyrebird, Australian magpie, magpie-lark, white-throated needletail and pheasant coucal. Latham has been called the "grandfather" of Australian ornithology. He was also the first to describe the hyacinth macaw from South America. Biography John Latham was born on 27 June 1740 at Eltham in northwest Kent. He was the eldest son of John Latham (died 1788), a surgeon, and his mother, who was a descendant of the Sothebys, in Yorkshire. He was educated at Merc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Plumage
Plumage () is a layer of feathers that covers a bird and the pattern, colour, and arrangement of those feathers. The pattern and colours of plumage differ between species and subspecies and may vary with age classes. Within species, there can be different colour morph (zoology), morphs. The placement of feathers on a bird is not haphazard but rather emerges in organized, overlapping rows and groups, and these are known by standardized names. Most birds moult twice a year, resulting in a breeding or ''nuptial plumage'' and a ''basic plumage''. Many ducks and some other species such as the red junglefowl have males wearing a bright nuptial plumage while breeding and a drab ''eclipse plumage'' for some months afterward. The painted bunting's juveniles have two inserted moults in their first autumn, each yielding plumage like an adult female. The first starts a few days after fledging replacing the ''juvenile plumage'' with an ''auxiliary formative plumage''; the second a month o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
ʻEua
ʻEua is an island in the kingdom of Tonga. It is close to Tongatapu, but forms a separate administrative division. It has an area of , and a population in 2021 of 4,903 people. The island leads in agriculture, tourism, and some of the forestry helps the island economically. Geography ʻEua is a hilly island, the highest peaks are the ''Teʻemoa'' (chicken manure) 312 m, and the ''Vaiangina'' (watersprings) 305 m. The island is not volcanic, but was shaped by the rubbing of the Tonga Plate against the Pacific Plate, pushing ʻEua up and leaving the Tonga Trench on the bottom of the ocean, a short distance towards the east. The soil of ʻEua is volcanic, as is that of Tongatapu, but only the top layer, deposited by eruptions of nearby volcanoes ten thousands years ago. Under it are the solid rocks of pushed-up coral. ʻEua counts many huge caves and holes, not all of which have yet been explored. ʻEua and Niuatoputapu are the only islands in Tonga that have stre ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gau Island
Gau (, also known as Ngau in English) is an island belonging to Fiji's Lomaiviti archipelago. Located at 18.00° S and 179.30 °E, it covers an area of , with a total shoreline that measures long, making it the fifth largest island in the Fijian archipelago. Its maximum elevation is . To the north-west is Batiki, and to the north-east is Nairai. Geography There are 16 villages on the island: Yadua, Vadra Vadra, Lovu, Levuka-i-Gau, Nukuloa, Nawaikama, Somosomo, Sawaieke (the chiefly village), Navukailagi, Qarani, Vione, Lekanai, Vanuaso, Nacavanadi, Malawai and Lamiti. Most of the island's residents live near the coast, and few live in the interior. Travel between villages is mostly by sea or on the coast road.Watling, Dick and A. N. Gilison. "Endangered Species in Low Elevation Cloud Forest on Gau Island, Fiji". in Lawrence S. Hamilton and James O. Juvik, eds. ''Tropical Montane Cloud Forests:Proceedings of an International Symposium at San Juan, Puerto Rico''. East-West Center ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Koro Island
Koro (lit. "village" in Fijian) is a volcanic island of Fiji that forms part of the Lomaiviti Archipelago. The Koro Sea is named after this volcanic island, which has a chain of basaltic cinder cones extending from north to south along its crest. With a land area of , the island is the seventh largest in Fiji. Its latitude is 17.18° North; its longitude is 179.24° East. Its population as of the 2017 census was 2,830 spread across 14 villages on the island. Eight villages are in Mudu District on the east coast and six are in Cawa District on the west coast. A roll-on/roll-off ferry services Koro weekly from Suva and also connects Koro to Vanua Levu to the north. Fiji Link provides one scheduled flight per week to Koro, usually on Friday from Nausori Airport. The island has an airport, Koro Airport, situated on its eastern coast. On its northwestern tip is situated the Dere Bay Resort and the Koro Beach Resort. A residential subdivision, Koro Seaview Estates was established ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kioa
Kioa is an island in Fiji, an outlier to Vanua Levu, one of Fiji's two main islands. Situated opposite Buca Bay, Kioa was purchased by settlers from Vaitupu atoll in Tuvalu, who came between 1947 and 1962. Despite its relatively large size, Vaitupu became so overcrowded during the 1940s that a number of families migrated to live on Kioa Island. At the end of World War II, Neli Lifuka was instrumental in collecting the funds to purchase Kioa. Initially 37 people migrated from Vaitupu to live on Kioa Island; within a decade, more than 235 people followed. In 1956, Neli Lifuka joined the Kioa community and became the chairman of its council. Kioa is one of two islands in Fiji populated by migrant communities from the Pacific Islands, the other being Rabi Island, Rabi, also in the Vanua Levu Group and home to a displaced Banaba Island, Banaban community. Early in 2005, the Fijian government decided to grant full citizenship to the Kioa and Rabi Islanders. As a culmination of a dec ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Laucala
Laucala (pronounced ) is one of a triplet of small islands that lie to the east of Thurston Point on the island of Taveuni in Fiji. The privately owned islands are the site of the Laucala Resort. The total land area of the main island is . It is long with a maximum width of , narrowing to in some places. The other two islands in the group are Qamea several hundred metres to the west and Matagi. History The island was first settled by the Qaraniyaku people, led by their founder Buatavatava Naulumatua. He established Nauluvatu village. Sphere of influence Many islands and villages in the northern Lau islands were under political control or influence by Laucala: the villages of Vutuna, Daliconi and Mavana on Vanua Balavu, and the islands of Naitauba, Namalata, Yacata, Qelelevu and Cikobia. Later, the islanders of Vuna (village in Taveuni) took over in the Lau islands, replacing Laucala power in theses islands. Migration In 1865, the island of Naitauba was sold to Eu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Qamea
Qamea (pronounced ) is one of three islets lying to the east of Thurston Point on the island of Taveuni, Fiji, the others being Matagi and Laucala. Geography Qamea lies some 2.5 kilometers east of Thurston Point and covers an area of 34 square kilometers. Its length is 10 kilometers; its width varies from a few hundred meters to five kilometers. The island is characterized by high hills (some as much as 300 meters in height) and steep valleys. Indigenous fauna survived better in Qamea than in many other areas of Fiji, as the mongoose was never introduced. Qamea's Naivivi Bay is known geographically as a hurricane hole - a natural shelter from hurricanes. Demographic and economic factors Kocoma, which has a population of about 550, is the largest of six villages on the island. The others are Dreketi, Togo, Naiviivi, Vatusogosogo, and Waibulu. The islanders are noted for a particular delicacy called ''paileve,'' which is fermented in a pit. Also famous is the migration of " ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Edgar Leopold Layard
Edgar Leopold Layard MBOU, (23 July 1824 – 1 January 1900) was a British diplomat and a naturalist mainly interested in ornithology and to a lesser extent the molluscs. He worked for a significant part of his life in Ceylon and later in South Africa, Fiji and New Caledonia. He studied the zoology of these places and established natural history museums in Sri Lanka and South Africa. Several species of animals are named after him. Early life and education Born in the Berti Palace, Florence, Italy, to an English family of Huguenot descent, Layard was the youngest of seven sons (two of the earlier siblings died in infancyLayard, E.L. Unpublished autobiography. MS at Blacker-Wood library, McGill University, Canada.) of Henry Peter John Layard of the Ceylon Civil Service (the son of Charles Peter Layard, dean of Bristol, and grandson of Daniel Peter Layard the physician) with his wife Marianne, a daughter of Nathaniel Austen, banker, of Ramsgate. Through her, he was part ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Subspecies
In Taxonomy (biology), biological classification, subspecies (: subspecies) is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (Morphology (biology), morphology), but that can successfully interbreed. Not all species have subspecies, but for those that do there must be at least two. Subspecies is abbreviated as subsp. or ssp. and the singular and plural forms are the same ("the subspecies is" or "the subspecies are"). In zoology, under the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, the subspecies is the only taxonomic rank below that of species that can receive a name. In botany and mycology, under the International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants, other infraspecific name, infraspecific ranks, such as variety (botany), variety, may be named. In bacteriology and virology, under standard International Code of Nomenclature of Prokaryotes, bacterial nomenclature and virus clas ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tongatapu
Tongatapu is the main island of Tonga and the site of its capital, Nukuʻalofa, Nukualofa. It is located in Tonga's southern island group, to which it gives its name, and is the country's most populous island, with 74,611 residents (2016), 70.5% of the national population, on . Tongatapu is Tonga's centre of government and the seat of its monarchy. Tongatapu has experienced more rapid economic development than the other islands of Tonga, and has thus attracted many internal migrants from them. Geography The island is (or including neighbouring islands) and rather flat, as it is built of coral limestone. The island is covered with thick fertile soil consisting of volcanic ash from neighbouring volcanoes. At the steep coast of the south, heights reach an average of , and maximum , gradually decreasing towards the north. North of the island are many small isolated islands and coral reefs which extend up to from Tongatapu's shores. The almost completely closed Fanga'uta and Fa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
