This EBA of Papua New Guinea includes New Britain, New Ireland and New Hanover (or Lavongai) and their outliers, from Karkar to Duke of York and from Nauna to Nissan; also the more distant Northwestern Islands and Schouten Islands. The Admiralty and St Matthias Islands, often grouped with New Britain and New Ireland into the Bismarck archipelago, are treated as separate EBAs (193, 194).

The native vegetation is mainly lowland forest with montane rain forest above c.900 m on the larger islands; mangroves and swamp forest are also common, and man-made grasslands occur locally, especially on New Britain.

This EBA has more restricted-range species than any other in the Pacific region except for the Solomon group (EBA 198). Most of these species utilize forest, with many also occurring in a range of other habitats. Some species show altitudinal preferences on the larger islands.

There is a complicated pattern of distribution between the islands (see 'Distribution patterns' table) with many species having ranges which extend to other Papuan island and Melanesian EBAs. New Hanover has one endemic species, while New Britain and its surrounding islands have 14 and New Ireland and its islands have seven; however, there are a further 12 species endemic to both New Britain and New Ireland, so these two centres of endemism are combined into one EBA, reflecting the commonest pattern of distribution of the islands' restricted-range species. Four species, Zosterops griseotinctus, Myzomela sclateri, M. pammelaena and Aplonis feadensis are only found on tiny islands in this EBA and elsewhere.

The taxonomy of most birds in this EBA has been little studied, and there are undoubtedly undescribed taxa as well as several taxa which are currently lumped with mainland forms by Sibley and Monroe (1990, 1993) that are likely to prove full species. Thus, Coates (1985, 1990) treats the New Britain form of Buff-breasted Paradise-kingfisher Tanysiptera sylvia nigriceps and Red-throated Myzomela Myzomela eques cineracea as separate species (see also Finch and McKean 1987, Palliser 1992).

Much of the north coast of New Britain has been cleared for oil-palm and coconut plantations, and remaining lowland forest has been, or is being, logged (Clay 1994). Despite this, few of the restricted-range species are currently classified as threatened because for many it is not certain whether they are genuinely sparsely distributed or are simply overlooked; depending on the number of recent records, altitudinal preference (and thus vulnerability to habitat destruction) and range size, they have been variously classified as Vulnerable, Near Threatened or Data Deficient. Columba pallidiceps is the exception: it is rated as Critical, being apparently uncommon on New Britain in 1959 (Gilliard and LeCroy 1967), with no records from western New Britain during the period 1978-1990 (K. D. Bishop in litt. 1989), and only a few additional observations.

Several areas important for terrestrial biodiversity have been identified within the EBA, including the Whiteman range, Nakanai range, Baining mountains and Willaumez peninsula in New Britain, and the Hans Meyer range, Verron range and Lelet plateau in New Ireland. The mountains and lowlands west of New Britain's population centres, the high ranges and southern scarp of central and eastern New Britain, and the highlands of New Ireland have been identified as areas where the present lack of scientific information is particularly serious (Beehler 1993), although many are very difficult of access.

There are a few protected areas, e.g. Pokili and Garu Wildlife Management Areas (98 and 87 km²) on New Britain which are important areas of lowland forest with two major Megapodius eremita nesting grounds as well as virtually all the island’s lowland and foothill species (K. D. Bishop in litt. 1993).

Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Endemic Bird Area factsheet: New Britain and New Ireland. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/eba/factsheet/195 on 23/11/2024.