Ecology of Sulawesi. Tony Whitten
composition of the Sulawesi mammal fauna is very different from that of Borneo or Irian Jaya with many fewer families represented (fig. 1.22). The rats and bats are major constituents of the fauna as they are in the insular regions of the Moluccas and Lesser Sundas.
Based on Anon 1982b
Figure 1.22. The faunas of Borneo, Sulawesi, Flores, Maluku and Irian Jaya (Vogelkop) compared.
There are 332 species of birds known from Sulawesi of which 92 (27%) are endemic, and 81 (25%) are migratory (p. 145; table 1.10) (White 1974, 1976, 1977; White and Bruce 1986). New records of species not previously known from Sulawesi are still being made (Escott and Holmes 1980; Watling 1983). Among the resident birds, 17 genera are endemic to Sulawesi and its surrounding islands including a large number of spectacular endemic birds such as the dark-green bee-eater Meropogon forsteni, the large brightly-coloured hornbill Rhyticeros cassidix, the crowned myna Basilornis celebensis, and the finch-billed starling Scissirostrum dubium which nests in huge numbers in holes bored out of tall dead trees (fig. 1.23). Sulawesi's best-known bird is the maleo Macrocephalon maleo which incubates its eggs in pits that the adult birds dig (p. 155).
Species and genus names in bold indicate Sulawesi endemics, (i) = introduced, (n) = first found by EoS teams, (p) = found on Peleng Island, (s) = found on Salayar Island.
After Groves 1976; Musser 1977, 1981 in press, pers. comm.; Jenkins and Hill 1981; Hill 1983 pers. comm.: Bergmans and Rozendaal in press;
Figure 1.23. Four of Sulawesi's endemic birds. a - Sulawesi crowned myna Basilornis celebensis, b - White-necked myna Streptocitta albicollis, c - Sulawesi dwarf hornbill Penelopides exarhatus, d - Piping crow Corvus typicus.
After Meyer and Wigglesworth 1898; Goodwin 1976
Whereas 100 species of amphibians have been collected on Borneo, only 29 are so far known from Sulawesi.17 Of this total, four frequent habitats associated with man and have probably been accidentally introduced. Of the 25 indigenous species, 19 (76%) are endemic (table 1.11). The Talaud Islands have a tree frog Litoria infrafrenata not found on the mainland but which is common to the east as far as Queensland (van Kampen 1923). The apparently poor amphibian fauna may be an artefact of undercollection since most of the species were found as a result of collections made in the 1870s-1890s and only three small collections have been made this century, each of which has included new species. There may, therefore, be as many species to be discovered as are already known (J. Dring pers. comm.).
After Holmes and Wood 1979; White and Bruce 1986; K.D. Bishop pers. comm., N. Collar pers. comm.
There are 40 species of lizards known from the Sulawesi mainland, 13 of which are endemic, but the group is poorly known and there are certainly new species awaiting discovery. One of the most distinctive of the reptiles, is the large sailfin lizard Hydrosaurus amboinensis, which is usually found near water (p. 301). Better known among the reptiles are the snakes and 64 have been collected from the mainland and its coastal waters (table 1.12) compared with 136 in Peninsular Malaysia, 150 in Sumatra, 110 in Java and 166 in Borneo (Medway 1981). There are 15 endemic species and one endemic monotypic genus Rabdion (den Bosch 1985). Strangely, the small island of Tanahjampea south of Salayar Island has only two species of snakes and both these are endemic: the Jampea ilyssid Cylindrophis isolepis and the Jampea pit viper Trimeresurus fasciatus (de Rooij 1917). Both species were collected by a team from the Bogor Museum that visited Jampea in 1984 (Boeadi pers. comm.). Sulawesi has the distinction of being the locality of the world's longest recorded snake, a reticulated python Python reticulatus that measured 9.97 m in length (McWhirter 1985). These snakes are the only Sulawesi land animals that present any real threat to man.
All of the fish indigenous to Sulawesi are brackish-water species tolerant of freshwater. Some of these appear to be restricted to lakes, while the eels migrate between the lakes and the sea. Many species have been introduced deliberately or accidentally (such as the air-breathing snakehead Channe18 striata and climbing perch Anabas testudineus) and it is these fish that dominate the Sulawesi freshwater fisheries (p. 330).
Until recently the invertebrates of Sulawesi were very poorly known but three expeditions have greatly increased the knowledge of what is present:
• Project Wallace (1985) organized by the Indonesian Institute of Sciences and the Royal Entomological Society of London, based in the Bogani Nani Wartabone National Park in Bolaang Mongondow, North Sulawesi;
• Operation Drake (1980) organised by the London-based Scientific Exploration Society, based in Morowali National Park; and
• a series of medical expedition teams (1970s) organized by the National Institute of Medical Research and the United States Naval Medical Research Unit, based near Lake Lindu.
A flood of papers describing new Sulawesi invertebrates appeared after Project Wallace (e.g., Hoogstraal and Wassef 1977; Bedford-Russel 1981, 1984; Hadi and Tenorio 1982; Hayes 1983; Goff et al. 1986). As an example of the previous lack of information, only one species (endemic) of spring-tail or Collembola was known from Sulawesi before 1985. In a few weeks of collecting in and around Bogani Nani Wartabone National Park no less than 120 species from about 70 genera had been added to the list. Specimens were even collected of two genera that were previously known from single species in North America (P. Greenslade pers. comm.). These small animals are very important in decomposition and mineral cycling (p. 365).
1 Species of western Indonesian forests and clearings.
2 Species found in the Moluccas or New Guinea.
3 Species of cultivation, secondary growth and degraded habitats, common in
western Indonesia and probably introduced by man. Other species are endemic.
From J. Dring pers. comm.
There are 38 species of the large and usually striking swallowtail butterflies on Sulawesi and 11 (29%) of these are endemic. One is Atrophaneura palu, a large black and white swallowtail (forewing 70 mm long) known from only a few specimens collected from close to what is now Lore Lindu National Park (Haugum et al. 1980; Collins and Morris 1985). Another seemingly rare, recently-described butterfly is the 'paper handkerchief or wood nymph butterfly Idea tambusisiana from Mt. Tambusisi in Morowali National Park (Bedford-Russell 1981). Further specimens have since been found by Japanese scientists in North Sulawesi (R. Vane-Wright pers. comm.).
Endemic genus and species in bold italic.
* = freshwater habitats,
# = estuarine and marine habitats.
After Regenass and Kramer 1981; in den Bosch 1985; C. McCarthy pers. comm.
Occasionally insects can be seen in such unusually great numbers that the observation is worthy of record. One example is the stream of pierid white butterflies seen crossing Kalaotoa Island