Amphibians and Reptiles of Tinian Island

Abstract

The following report is based on specimens collected and observations made by the author from May 31, 1945, to October 17, 1945, while on duty with a service group of the Army Air Forces on Tinian Island, Marianas Group, in the western Pacific Ocean. The average temperature was reported to be approximately 800 F. The humidity was high. In the later months there were heavy rainswhich caused considerable erosion and formed temporary rain pools. Hagoi Lake was the one fresh water lake seen on the Island. Insects outnumbered other invertebrates which included large and small land crabs, and a large number of land snails, two to three inches in diameter. The eighteen species of birds observed have previously been recorded.* Rats and mice (presumably Rattus and Mus) were the only mammals observed. Sugar cane grew on most of the lower areas. Bananas, breadfruit, and papayas grew on the slopes and hills. Tinian lacks the extensive tropical forests that occur on Saipan only three miles distant to the northeast. Much assistance in the collecting of specimens was given by Major William B. S. Thomas, M.C. and Sgt. Eugene Cypert, Medical Department. Thanks are tendered to Dr. Edward H. Taylor for assistance in identifying the specimens and to Professor E. Raymond Hall for assistance with the present account.