The mammal fauna of Wanakipa, Southern Highlands Province, Papua New Guinea

We undertook a survey of mammal diversity and indigenous knowledge of mammals in Hewa country, in the vicinity of Wanakipa village, Southern Highlands Province, during July 2008. Specimens collected during this survey document the occurrence of 22 mammal species in the immediate area, including one monotreme, 6 marsupials, 7 rodents, and 8 bats. Two species of conservation concern, the Eastern Long-Beaked Echidna Zaglossus bartoni (IUCN Critically Endangered) and Goodfellow’s Tree Kangaroo Dendrolagus goodfellowi (IUCN Endangered) were documented by trophy skulls and bones kept by Hewa hunters. Three mammals are apparently reported from Southern Highlands Province for the first time: the bent-wing bat Miniopterus macrocneme, the long-eared bat Nyctophilus microtis, and a rodent species in the Rattus rattus species complex. The presence of this last species, an invasive rodent trapped distant from an immediate village commensal context, provides an interesting indication of recent environmental change in the highlands of Papua New Guinea. Hewa informants convincingly communicated their familiarity with more than 20 additional mammal species, including those restricted to higher elevations than we visited during our survey, including one of special conservation concern, the tree kangaroo Dendrolagus [dorianus] notatus (IUCN Endangered). Hewa folk taxonomy suggests that three tree kangaroo species may occur in the region, one of which may be the Lowland Tree Kangaroo (Dendrolagus spadix) or even a currently undocumented population or unrecognized species. The mammal fauna of Wanakipa appears similar in composition to better surveyed areas of similar elevation situated along the southern margin of the central cordillera in Southern Highlands Province, such as Mt. Sisa and Mt. Bosavi.