An expedition to the Sir Joseph Banks Group of islands, South Australia: vertebrate fauna

ABSTRACT

The vertebrate fauna of the Sir Joseph Banks Group includes 6 native (2 now extinct) and 7 introduced mammals, 76 native and 4 introduced birds and 15 native and 1 introduced reptile. The determination of the total mammal fauna includes examination of sub-fossil bone collections from both Reevesby and Spilsby Islands. Tammar wallaby, bush rat and greater stick-nest rats were only recorded from sub-fossils, but the successful reintroduction of the stick-nest rat to Reevesby Island begun in 1990, is described. Two species of bat are recorded from the two large islands, Spilsby and Reevesby. An Australian sea lion haul-out site on Blyth Island is described for the first time. Counts of the number of pairs of Cape Barren geese now breeding on Spilsby Island are also published here for the first time. The islands of the Sir Joseph Banks Group are very significant for the conservation of species with large and important breeding populations there such as Cape Barren geese, black-faced cormorants, white-faced storm petrels, little penguins and the black form of eastern tiger snakes while the successfully established greater stick-nest rat population on Reevesby Island is critical for the ongoing conservation of this threatened species.

KEYWORDS:

• Sir Joseph Banks Group
• islands
• vertebrates
• seals
• mammals
• reptiles
• birds
• sub-fossils
• South Australia

Acknowledgements

Many thanks to Michael and Anne Whillas for renting their house on Spilsby Island for use by the expedition, and to the Spilsby Island Management Association for permission to work on the island. The South Australian Research & Development Institute committed a significant amount of funding to the expedition through the provision of their Research Vessels “Ngerin” and “Odyssey”. Particular thanks go to Neil Chigwidden and his crew on “Ngerin”, who transported personnel and gear to Spilsby, Reevesby and a number of the smaller islands. Thanks also for the hospitality on the “Ngerin” for the last few days of the survey. The South Australian Department for Environment Water and Natural Resources supported the terrestrial program. David Stemmer Mammal collection manager at the SA Museum provided information of bat distribution on SA offshore islands. Dennis Matthews identified bat detector calls from Spillsby and Reevesby Islands. Philippa Horton identified a desiccated Raven and a set of bird of prey talons found on Spilsby Island. Senior Researcher (Herpetology) at the SA Museum, Mark Hutchinson, identified the reptile specimens collected and commented on their biogeographic significance. Julia Haska, Michael Holton and Jason Van Weenan provided additional bird observations from both Spilsby and Reevesby Islands. Matthew Royal of the GIS Analysis Operations Unit in the DEWNR Science Resource Centre prepared the maps. This research was carried out under SA Department for Environment and Heritage Scientific Permit S25693-1 and Wildlife Ethics Committee Permit no 8/2009.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Sourh Australian Research and Development Institute (Marine Sciences) and the Department for Environment, Water and Natural Resources, Government of South Australia.