These Indonesian islands (see map, p. 558) are, at 7,700 km², the largest of the New Guinea satellite islands and have the richest avifauna (c.160 resident species recorded; see Diamond and Bishop 1994). While no bird species is confined to the Arus, there are numerous endemic subspecies and several restricted-range species (recorded in other small-island Indonesian and/or lowland New Guinean EBAs), including Wallace's Fruit-dove Ptilinopus wallacii, Elegant Imperial-pigeon Ducula concinna, Spangled Kookaburra Dacelo tyro, Little Paradise-kingfisher Tanysiptera hydrocharis, Island Whistler Pachycephala phaionotus and Brown-headed Crow Corvus fuscicapillus. Chestnut Rail Eulabeornis castaneoventris, a restricted-range species from North-west Australia (EBA 187), also occurs there. The islands support extensive areas of untouched lowland rain forest with good populations of the above species and of two important widespread species, Southern Cassowary Casuarius casuarius (classified as Vulnerable) and Palm Cockatoo Probosciger aterrimus (Near Threatened) (K. D. Bishop in litt. 1996).

Stattersfield, A. J., Crosby, M. J., Long, A. J. and Wege, D. C. (1998) Endemic Bird Areas of the World. Priorities for biodiversity conservation. BirdLife Conservation Series 7. Cambridge, UK: BirdLife International.

Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Endemic Bird Area factsheet: Aru Islands. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/eba/factsheet/411 on 18/12/2024.