The Bewani Mountains form a

mountain range A mountain range or hill range is a series of mountains or hills arranged in a line and connected by high ground. A mountain system or mountain belt is a group of mountain ranges with similarity in form, structure, and alignment that have aris ...

in northwestern

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea, officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is an island country in Oceania that comprises the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and offshore islands in Melanesia, a region of the southwestern Pacific Ocean n ...

. Together with the

Torricelli Mountains The Torricelli Mountains are a mountain range in Sandaun Province, north-western Papua New Guinea. The highest peak in the range is Mount Sulen at 1650 meters. The Bewani Mountains are located to the west, and the Prince Alexander Mountains ar ...

and Prince Alexander Mountains it forms the North Coastal Range of Papua New Guinea.Birdlife International: North Papuan mountains
retrieved 11 August 2010 The highest point of the mountains is at 1,960 m. The Bewani languages and various other

Papuan languages The Papuan languages are the non- Austronesian languages spoken on the western Pacific island of New Guinea, as well as neighbouring islands in Indonesia, Solomon Islands, and East Timor. It is a strictly geographical grouping, and does not imply ...

are spoken in the region.

Geology

The Bewani-Torricelli-Prince Alexander Mountains, are presumed to have been formed as an island arc in the Late

Eocene The Eocene ( ) is a geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 56 to 33.9 million years ago (Ma). It is the second epoch of the Paleogene Period (geology), Period in the modern Cenozoic Era (geology), Era. The name ''Eocene'' comes ...

-Early

Oligocene The Oligocene ( ) is a geologic epoch (geology), epoch of the Paleogene Geologic time scale, Period that extends from about 33.9 million to 23 million years before the present ( to ). As with other older geologic periods, the rock beds that defin ...

Ecology

As with other mountain ranges in Papua New Guinea, the Bewani Mountains are home to many rare species of fauna and flora and is highly

biodiverse Biodiversity is the variability of life on Earth. It can be measured on various levels. There is for example genetic variability, species diversity, ecosystem diversity and phylogenetic diversity. Diversity is not distributed evenly on Earth ...

. The black sicklebill (''Epimachus fastuosus'') is a threatened species which is known from a few localities in the Bewani and Torricelli mountains. Fiwo, a subspecies of the tenkile (''Dendrolagus scottae'')

tree-kangaroo Tree-kangaroos are marsupials of the genus ''Dendrolagus'', adapted for arboreal locomotion. They inhabit the tropical rainforests of New Guinea and far northeastern Queensland, Australia along with some of the islands in the region. All tree- ...

, is thought to be

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

to the Bewani Mountains. Two frog species described in 2000/2001, '' Cophixalus bewaniensis'' and '' Choerophryne longirostris'', are so far only known from the Bewani Mountains.

References

External links

* {{Mountain ranges of New Guinea Mountain ranges of Papua New Guinea Eocene Oceania Oligocene Oceania Paleogene Oceania

Geology

Ecology

See also

References

External links