Dr Colin R. Trainor

Charles Darwin University | CDU · Research Institute for the Environment and Livelihoods

Leaf warblers (Aves; Phylloscopidae) are a diverse clade of insectivorous, canopy-dwelling songbirds widespread across the Old World. The taxonomy of Australasian leaf warblers is particularly complex, with multiple species-level divergences between island taxa in the region requiring further scrutiny. We use a combination of morphology, bioacousti...

We here describe a new species of Myzomela honeyeater from the Lesser Sunda island of Alor (southeast Indonesia). The new species is phylogenetically most closely related to Myzomela kuehni from the adjacent island of Wetar and most closely resembles that species in plumage. However, it differs in important morphological, bioacoustic and ecological...

With nearly 400 migratory landbird species, the East Asian Flyway is the most diverse of the world’s flyways. This diversity is a consequence of the varied ecological niches provided by biomes ranging from broadleaf forests to arctic tundra and accentuated by complex biogeographic processes. The distribution and migration ecology of East Asian land...

On 4 August 2022, whilst searching for Timorese endemic butterflies, MR photographed what were initially assumed to be two Tricoloured Parrotfinches Erythrura tricolor, but considered that one bird looked peculiar, with red markings on its cheek. Upon reviewing photos of the birds later that evening, it was clear that the bird was a male of the und...

The nightjars of the Caprimulgus macrurus complex are distributed from Pakistan to Australia and comprise six morphologically similar but vocally distinct species. Fieldwork on Timor and Wetar, Lesser Sunda Islands, has resulted in the discovery of a seventh species in the complex, which we describe as a new species. This species has previously bee...

The distribution of the Rote Island endemic Peacock Monitor (Varanus auffenbergi) has been poorlyknown. Based on at least 10 previously unpublished records, we extend the species’ distribution range to cover much of the island of Rote, with the extent of occurrence covering 686 km2 (and 1,570 km2 if two off-shore islets are included), and with an a...

We collated 10 unpublished records and three published (but overlooked) records of Slaty-breasted Rail from Indonesian Nusa Tenggara and Timor-Leste from literature, eBird (ebird.org), personal observations and from colleagues (Appendix 1). We describe details of the observations and the seasonality of records to understand patterns in their occurr...

Eleven species of Odonata are reported for the first time from Timor and Semau Islands, 13 new records are reported for Rote Island and four new records for Alor Island. These records increase the checklists to 51 species for Timor (thereof 45 from TimorLeste), 11 for Semau, 23 for Rote and 13 for Alor. An annotated listing is provided for these fo...

We present an annotated list of 28 Odonata species (19 Anisoptera, 9 Zygoptera) from Timor Island based on 464 records via photographs and 56 specimens held in collections at the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin, Australia and the Museum Wiesbaden, Germany. Additionally 43 records of eight species (7 Anisoptera, 1 Zygoptera)...

In the past, Rote island was not on birdwatchers' itineraries but this is now changing due to new information on the endemic birds found there. This paper introduces the avifauna of Rote and its satellite islands.

The shorebirds of most Wallacean islands, including Flores (13,540 km2), are poorly-known. We document new information on the status of shorebirds on Flores from more than 611 visits to 37 sites during 2000-2013, and review records from a total of 55 sites. Forty-two shorebird species have been recorded on Flores: five resident breeding species (e....

The population of the Critically Endangered Yellow-crested Cockatoo Cacatua sulphurea occidentalis in Komodo National Park, Komodo Island, East Nusa Tenggara province, Indonesia, is thought to be second largest, but has been little studied. In September–October 2005, we surveyed cockatoos from vantage points overlooking five coastal valleys, each o...

The only occurrence of Lewin’s Rail off continental Australasia is the isolated and little-known population on Flores Island (Wallacea, Indonesia) which was described by Hartert (1898) as the endemic subspecies exsul. Flores lies 840 km to the northwest of Australia, 2,870 km from nearest Australian population on the Atherton Tablelands (Queensland...

Background The Government of Timor-Leste has proposed the development of Tibar Port in the western shore of Tibar Bay including the constructure of: a two-berth quay wall approximately 630 m long; dredging of the quay berth, tunring circle and channel to -16 m depth; and, reclamation and soil improvement of the 27 ha container terminal. The develop...

In terrestrial landscapes of Timor-Leste closed canopy Tropical (Rain-) Forests are high value in terms of biodiversity, carbon storage, hydrological function as well as sources of food and medicines. Tropical Forest cover in Timor-Leste is approximately 1,000 km2 , with the most extensive examples in Nino Konis Santana National Park. One type of T...

First record of Black-headed Gull for Timor-Leste and the Lesser Sundas, and second or third gull record confirmed from Lesser Sundas

Background Plasmodium knowlesi is a zoonotic pathogen, transmitted among macaques and to humans by anopheline mosquitoes. Information on P. knowlesi malaria is lacking in most regions so the first step to understand the geographical distribution of disease risk is to define the distributions of the reservoir and vector species. Methods We used mac...

Additional file 7: Macaca fascicularis data. Each record of M. fascicularis occurrence is provided with a location and date. Duplicate records within a calendar year have been removed. Locations are classed as points (defined as <25 km2) or polygons (defined as >25 km2). (XLSX 322 kb)

Additional file 10: Relative probability of Macaca fascicularis occurrence. A GeoTIFF raster data layer containing a predicted value (the mean model output) for every 5×5km pixel within SE Asia excluding islands outside the species range. This file can be opened in GIS software (e.g. QGIS, ArcMap, etc) or using the ‘raster’ R package. (TIF 4459 kb)

Additional file 11: Relative probability of Macaca nemestrina occurrence. A GeoTIFF raster data layer containing a predicted value (the mean model output) for every 5×5km pixel within SE Asia excluding islands outside the species range. This file can be opened in GIS software (e.g. QGIS, ArcMap, etc) or using the ‘raster’ R package. (TIF 4090 kb)

Additional file 16: Relative probability of a member of the Leucosphyrus Group occurring. A GeoTIFF raster data layer containing a predicted value (the mean model output) for every 5×5km pixel within SE Asia excluding islands outside the group range. This file can be opened in GIS software (e.g. QGIS, ArcMap, etc) or using the ‘raster’ R package. (...

Additional file 1: Distributions of the model input data in space and time. The spatial distributions of the species occurrence data and background data are shown on a series of maps and their temporal distributions are shown by a series of histograms. (DOCX 1584 kb) Additional file 2: Environmental variables used in the species distribution model...

Additional file 8: Macaca nemestrina data. Each record of M. nemestrina occurrence is provided with a location and date. Duplicate records within a calendar year have been removed. Locations are classed as points (defined as <25 km2) or polygons (defined as >25 km2). (XLSX 130 kb)

Additional file 9: Macaca leonina data. Each record of M. leonina occurrence is provided with a location and date. Duplicate records within a calendar year have been removed. Locations are classed as points (defined as <25 km2) or polygons (defined as >25 km2). (XLSX 63 kb)

Additional file 12: Relative probability of Macaca leonina occurrence. A GeoTIFF raster data layer containing a predicted value (the mean model output) for every 5×5km pixel within SE Asia excluding islands outside the species range. This file can be opened in GIS software (e.g. QGIS, ArcMap, etc) or using the ‘raster’ R package. (TIF 3459 kb)

Additional file 13: Relative probability of Anopheles dirus occurrence. A GeoTIFF raster data layer containing a predicted value (the mean model output) for every 5×5km pixel within SE Asia excluding islands outside the species range. This file can be opened in GIS software (e.g. QGIS, ArcMap, etc) or using the ‘raster’ R package. (TIF 3461 kb)

Additional file 14: Relative probability of a member of the Dirus Complex occurring. A GeoTIFF raster data layer containing a predicted value (the mean model output) for every 5×5km pixel within SE Asia excluding islands outside the complex range. This file can be opened in GIS software (e.g. QGIS, ArcMap, etc) or using the ‘raster’ R package. (TIF...

Additional file 15: Relative probability of a member of the Leucosphyrus Complex occurring. A GeoTIFF raster data layer containing a predicted value (the mean model output) for every 5×5km pixel within SE Asia excluding islands outside the complex range. This file can be opened in GIS software (e.g. QGIS, ArcMap, etc) or using the ‘raster’ R packag...

The Fortescue Marsh in the Pilbara bioregion, Western Australia, is an extensive ephemeral wetland that fills episodically. It is considered as a potential Ramsar site and is recognised as a nationally important wetland and an Important Bird Area. We surveyed birds at 21 sites on the Fortescue Marsh and a further 23 sites (44 sites in total), inclu...

The Common Redshank Tringa totanus and Spotted Redshank T. erythropus are vagrants to Australia with most records from coastal Roebuck Bay-Broome area, southern Kimberley. Here we report the first inland Pilbara record of a redshank species, 352 km from the coast, near Newman town on 9 September 2011. The field observation was distant and the redsh...

The avifauna of Semau, a small island (261 km 2) near southwest Timor in the Nusa Tengarra region of Indonesia, is reviewed, based on a series of visits comprising some 18 days between October 1989 and May 1991 and a further two days in August 2012. The birdlife present is a species poor subset of that on Timor (30720 km 2), with all resident breed...

Many of the Banda Sea islands, including Babar, Romang, Sermata and Leti, were last surveyed more than 100 years ago. In October–November 2010, birds were surveyed on Romang (14 days), Sermata (eight days), Leti (five days) and Kisar (seven days), and on Babar in August 2009 (ten days) and August 2011 (11 days). Limited unpublished observations fro...

Records of Bonelli’s Eagle Aquila fasciata renschi on 18 islands in the Lesser Sundas, from Lombok to the Tanimbar islands, in Indonesia and Timor-Leste are reviewed, and its taxonomic status examined. The species is resident on many islands, known to breed on several of the larger islands and is most abundant on Flores and Timor. It appears to be...

We report the occurrence of a female Australian Painted Snipe Rostratula australis on 31 Mar 2012 at Coondiner Pool, 70 km from Newman in the Pilbara region of NW Australia, an area for which there are very few previous records. We discuss the status of this poorly-known endangered species and the circumstances under which it is occasionally record...

The island of Alor was visited by PC, EC and Tom Theuwis on 3 July 2011, when they explored secondary forest on hills to about 650 m in the vicinity of Wahwah village north of Kalabahi, the main town. They saw a big raptor perched in the top of a tree on the ridge of a nearby hill. Some images and video stills were taken but when they tried for bet...

Terrestrial fauna-general introduction; biodiversity on south coast and impact of land use on fauna species status

The Wallacean island of Timor is of particular biological interest due to its relatively large size and transitional location between the Indo-Malayan and Australasian biogeographic realms. However, the origins and levels of endemism of its invertebrate fauna are poorly known. A recent study of Timorese ants revealed a diverse fauna with predominan...

List of specimens examined. (DOCX)

Photographs of study skins. From left to right: two male Otus manadensis manadensis from Sulawesi, two male O. jolandae from Lombok (holotype left, male paratype right), and two male O. magicus albiventris from southern Flores. (TIF)

Recording localities and recordists. Numbers following each name represent the number of recordings from the recordist at each site. (DOCX)

Standardized canonical discrimination function coefficients examining trends in variance of 13 acoustic variables1 measured for territorial songs of six taxa with whistled songs. Eigenvalues and percentage of variance accounted for by each root are given at the bottom of the table. (DOCX)

Otus jolandae, song, Senaru, Lombok, August 2008, Philippe Verbelen. (WAV)

Otus magicus albiventris, song, Labuhanbajo, Flores, August 2003, George Sangster. (WAV)

Factor loadings of 15 acoustic variables on the three principal components in six taxa with whistled songs. Eigenvalues and percentage of variance explained by the respective components are given at the bottom of the table. (DOCX)

Standardized canonical discrimination function coefficients examining trends in variance of 9 morphometric variables measured for O. jolandae, O. magicus albiventris, O. m. magicus/bouruensis/leucospilus, O. tempestatis, and O. manadensis manadensis. Eigenvalues and percentage of variance accounted for by each root are given at the bottom of the ta...

Otus jolandae, song, Sapit, Lombok, September 2003, George Sangster. (WAV)

Otus magicus albiventris, song, Riung, Flores, August 2003, George Sangster. (WAV)

Factor loadings of 9 morphometric variables on the three principal components in O. jolandae, O. magicus albiventris, O. m. magicus/bouruensis/leucospilus, O. tempestatis, and O. manadensis manadensis. Eigenvalues and percentage of variance explained by the respective components are given at the bottom of the table. (DOCX)

The avifauna of Indonesia is one of the richest in the World but the taxonomic status of many species remains poorly documented. The sole species of scops owl known from Lombok has long been assigned to the widespread Moluccan Scops Owl Otus magicus on the basis of superficial similarities in morphology. Field work in 2003 has shown that the territ...

Video

Photo of Timor Bush warbler Locustella (Bradypterus) timorensis habitat

The Timor Bush Warbler Locustella timorensis was first collected by Georg Stein on Mount Mutis, West Timor in 1932, but there have been no confirmed field observations since. Here we report on the discovery of a new population of bush warbler on Alor (9 September 2009), which prompted a search for, and subsequent rediscovery, of the nominate Timor...

The status of birds on Alor and Pantar is reviewed based on the literature plus surveys in 1991, 2002, 2009 and 2010 totalling about five weeks and two weeks respectively. A total of 116 birds (86 resident landbirds) were recorded on Alor including 37 new island records (including 27 resident landbirds) and 97 birds were recorded on Pantar includin...

The Pied Bush Chat Saxicola caprata occurs widely in South, South-east Asia, and the Papuan region with 16 subspecies recognised including pyrrhonotus in the Timor region. Observations on the small island of Kisar, 25 km north of eastern Timor-Leste, revealed that the females differed from those of Timor, and may represent an undescribed subspecies...

NOTE: Report now publicly available online at http://www.environment.gov.au

The Bradypterus bush warblers comprise about 25 species worldwide (Madge 2006). However, recent analyses show that the Asian-distributed Bradypterus species actually belong within the genus Locustella (Alström et al. 2011). They typically inhabit hard-to-access montane regions and often have cryptic and nondescript brown plumage, and skulking habit...

Eucalyptus alba sensu lato is currently distributed through northern Australia and Papua New Guinea, as well as the Lesser Sunda islands of Indonesia and Timor-Leste. In the Lesser Sundas the distribution of E. alba is poorly-known, but it has been recorded from the central islands of Flores, Solor, Adonara, Lembata, Pantar, Alor, Atauro, Wetar and...

The status of waterbirds and coastal seabirds in Timor-Leste is refined based on surveys during 2005–2010. A total of 2,036 records of 82 waterbird and coastal seabirds were collected during 272 visits to 57 Timor-Leste sites, and in addition a small number of significant records from Indonesian West Timor, many by colleagues, are included. More th...

Gulls are a not a regular feature of the avifauna of insular South-East Asia. Five species have been recorded in Indonesia (Sukmantoro et al. 2007, Marc Gardner pers. comm. 2009). Only one, the Common Black-headed Gull Larus ridibundus, has been recorded from Wallacea, with several records in northern Sulawesi since 1986 (White & Bruce 1986, Coates...

The birds of the island of Solor were last investigated about 150 years ago when Charles Allen, an assistant of Lord Alfred Wallace, collected four species. During a one-day visit in 2005 the first author recorded an additional 47 species, including 33 resident land birds. A total of 37 species, including ten new island records, were observed on Ad...

Ringkasan. Dengan 50 subspesies yang aneh, Anis Gunung Turdus poliocephalus merupakan burung yang memiliki warna paling bervariasi di dunia dan banyak infromasi distribusinya belum secara akurat diketahui. Dua subspesies terdapat di Pulau Timor, namun tanpa informasi berbiak terbaru kecuali dari Hellmayr (1914) atau Mayr (1914) dan tidak ada deskri...

This study examines the biogeography of the ant fauna of Timor and of stepping stone Nusa Tenggara islands to the north (Wetar, Atauro, Alor, Pantar and Lembata) that are geographically closer to continental South East Asia. Timor is of outstanding biogeographical significance because it is the second largest island within the Wallacean transitiona...

IDENTITY All toads (945 individuals on 25.8 km of walked transects) observed in Dili, Liquica, Covalima (Suai), Manufahi (Same), Bobonaro and Oecusse districts were Black-spined Toad Bufo melanostictus. No Cane Toad B. marinus were recorded, and this species has not yet been recorded for Timor-Leste or Timor island. The Black-spined Toad is superfi...