Cheeseman Island is a rocky

volcanic island Geologically, a high island or volcanic island is an island of volcanic origin. The term can be used to distinguish such islands from low islands, which are formed from sedimentation or the uplifting of coral reefs (which have often form ...

in the southwest

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the contine ...

(located at ). It is named after

Thomas Frederick Cheeseman Thomas Frederick Cheeseman (8 June 184515 October 1923) was a New Zealand botanist. He was also a naturalist who had wide-ranging interests, such that he even described a few species of sea slugs (marine gastropod molluscs). Biography Chee ...

of the

Auckland Museum The Auckland War Memorial Museum Tāmaki Paenga Hira (or simply the Auckland Museum) is one of New Zealand's most important museums and war memorials. Its collections concentrate on New Zealand history (and especially the history of the Auckla ...

- who was on board the New Zealand Government steamer 'Stella' when it visited the island in 1887. Partly named after Matthew Cheeseman who was first to map the island with his brother. It neighbours Curtis Island to the east and lies about south of

Macauley Island Macauley Island is a volcanic island in New Zealand's Kermadec Islands, approximately halfway between New Zealand's North Island and Tonga in the southwest Pacific Ocean. It is part of a larger submarine volcano that features a wide unde ...

. They are part of the

Kermadec Islands The Kermadec Islands ( mi, Rangitāhua) are a subtropical island arc in the South Pacific Ocean northeast of New Zealand's North Island, and a similar distance southwest of Tonga. The islands are part of New Zealand. They are in total ...

, an outlying island group of

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 List of islands of New Zealand, smaller islands. It is the ...

, located halfway between New Zealand's

North Island The North Island, also officially named Te Ika-a-Māui, is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, separated from the larger but much less populous South Island by the Cook Strait. The island's area is , making it the world's 14th-larges ...

and the nation of

Tonga Tonga (, ; ), officially the Kingdom of Tonga ( to, Puleʻanga Fakatuʻi ʻo Tonga), is a Polynesian country and archipelago. The country has 171 islands – of which 45 are inhabited. Its total surface area is about , scattered over in ...

Flora and fauna

Apart from a short stretch of its west coast, the island is bordered by cliffs, making access from the sea difficult. It is rugged and rocky, with little woody vegetation. Between the two high points of the island is a central valley where the vegetation is dominated by the

sedge The Cyperaceae are a family of graminoid (grass-like), monocotyledonous flowering plants known as sedges. The family is large, with some 5,500 known species described in about 90 genera, the largest being the "true sedges" genus '' Carex'' ...

Cyperus ustulatus ''Cyperus ustulatus'', also known as giant umbrella-sedge or coastal cutty grass is a species of sedge native to New Zealand. ''C. ustulatus'' generally grows in coastal or lowland areas near water in the North Island and on the Kermadec Islands. ...

'', while the surrounding slopes are dominated by a mix of ''

Parietaria debilis ''Parietaria debilis'', commonly known as pellitory, small-flower pellitory, or native pellitory, is a herb native to Australia and New Zealand. Description It grows as an annual herb from 7 to 40 centimetres in height, with green or white flow ...

'' and ''

Disphyma australe ''Disphyma australe'' is a species of flowering plant in the family Aizoaceae and is endemic to New Zealand. It is a prostrate, succulent annual shrub or short-lived perennial plant with stems up to long, leaves that are three-sided in cross-se ...

''. The island forms part of the Kermadec Islands

Important Bird Area An Important Bird and Biodiversity Area (IBA) is an area identified using an internationally agreed set of criteria as being globally important for the conservation of bird populations. IBA was developed and sites are identified by BirdLife Int ...

, identified as such by

BirdLife International BirdLife International is a global partnership of non-governmental organizations that strives to conserve birds and their habitats. BirdLife International's priorities include preventing extinction of bird species, identifying and safeguarding ...

because it is an important site for nesting

seabird Seabirds (also known as marine birds) are birds that are adapted to life within the marine environment. While seabirds vary greatly in lifestyle, behaviour and physiology, they often exhibit striking convergent evolution, as the same envir ...

s.BirdLife International. (2012). Important Bird Areas factsheet: Kermadec Islands. Downloaded from on 2012-02-03. Seabirds breeding on the island include Kermadec and

black-winged petrel The black-winged petrel (''Pterodroma nigripennis'') is a species of seabird in the family Procellariidae. It breeds on a number of oceanic islands in the tropical and subtropical East Pacific Ocean and spends the rest of the year at sea. Descr ...

s, Kermadec little shearwaters and

sooty tern The sooty tern (''Onychoprion fuscatus'') is a seabird in the family Laridae. It is a bird of the tropical oceans, returning to land only to breed on islands throughout the equatorial zone. Taxonomy The sooty tern was described by Carl Linna ...

References

External links

Kermadec Marine Reserve (New Zealand Department of Conservation)
Islands of the Kermadec Islands Volcanoes of the New Zealand outlying islands Uninhabited islands of New Zealand Important Bird Areas of the Kermadec Islands Volcanic islands of New Zealand {{OutlyingNZ-geo-stub

Flora and fauna

See also

References

External links