Keeling Islands Research Articles

Decolonization and Community Development on the Cocos (Keeling) Islands

Decolonization and Community Development on the Cocos (Keeling) Islands

The feeding behaviour ofThalamita crenata(Portunidae, Decapoda), a cannibalistic marine scavenger

Interactions between individuals of the mangrove swimming crab Thalamita crenata attracted to carrion were studied in the field at one site in the Cocos (Keeling) Islands. T. crenata was found to be an omnivore and a cannibalistic scavenger. Although several crabs were usually attracted to a carcass placed on the sandflat, only one T. crenata ever fed at a time. Larger individuals displaced smaller ones at carcasses and crabs of carapace width 2 cm wide or less were significantly under‐represented among those attracted and feeding. The results are discussed in terms of the costs and benefits of engaging in escalated contests with cannibalistic conspecifics. It is predicted that the duration of fights and the likelihood of escalated contests will be (a) a function of the size of a bait and (b) inversely related to the nutritional status of crabs.

The Australian Sciapodinae (Diptera: Dolichopodidae), with a review of the Oriental and Australasian faunas, and a world conspectus of the subfamily

The Australian Sciapodinae (Diptera: Dolichopodidae), with a review of the Oriental and Australasian faunas, and a world conspectus of the subfamily

Helicoverpa punctigera . [Distribution map

Abstract A new distribution map is provided for Helicoverpa punctigera (Wallengren) Lepidoptera: Noctuidae. Attacks tobacco, groundnut, safflower, sunflower, flax, lucerne. Information is given on the geographical distribution in Asia, Cocos-Keeling Island, Australasia and Pacific Islands, Australia, Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, Western Australia, New Zealand, Norfolk Island.

Human impacts on Australia's Indian Ocean tropical island ecosystems: A review

The human impact on two tropical island groups in the eastern Indian Ocean — Christmas Island and the Cocos (Keeling) Islands — is described. Both are external territories of the Commonwealth of Australia. The ecological influences of construction, war, coconut plantations, horticulture, mining, the introduction of organisms and tourism are discussed in relation to the islands' geomorphology, hydrology, vegetation, fauna and marine environments.

A revision of the Trimmatom nanus species complex (Pisces, Gobiidae), with descriptions of three new species and redefinition of Trimmatom

Trimmatom is rediagnosed to include gobiids in which the first element of the anal fin is a bilaterally paired ray, the fifth pelvic ray is unbranched and reduced to 15% or less of the length of the fourth, the head, pectoral-fin base, and breast are scaleless, there are no head pores, and the gill opening extends anteroventrally at least to below the vertical limb of the preopercle. The Trimmatom nanus species complex is considered to be monophyletic by virtue of an unbranched fourth pelvic-fin ray. Trimmatom macropodus, n.sp., recorded from Taiwan, the Philippines, the Coral Sea, and the Great Barrier Reef, has a scaled body and the first three pelvic-fin rays are branched. Trimmatom zapotes, n.sp., from the Caroline and Gilbert islands and Great Barrier Reef, has a scaled body and all pelvic-fin rays are unbranched. Among the three scaleless species, Trimmatom offucius is restricted to the Chagos Archipelago and has two dark saddles crossing the bases of fin rays in the second dorsal fin. Trimmatom sagma, n.sp., from the Cocos-Keeling Islands, the Philippines, and the Moluccas, has a single dark saddle across the base of the second dorsal fin and a unique dorsal pterygiophore formula. Trimmatom nanus lacks dark saddles over the dorsum. The known geographic range of this species is greatly expanded, from the type locality in the Chagos Archipelago to include the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, the Caroline Islands, the Gilbert Islands, Fiji south to South Minerva Reef, Lord Howe Rise, the Coral Sea, western Australia, and the Maldives.

AUSTRALIA, THE COCOS ISLANDS AND SELF-DETERMINATION

Allegations of slavery are not normally the stuff of Australian law and politics in the latter half of the twentieth century.However, on 30 August 1972, the majority of Australians were first made aware that Australian territory included the Cocos (Keeling) Islands, mere crumbs on the map of the Indian Ocean, where what appeared to be a feudal kingdom of Malay slaves was run by a barefoot Caucasion monarch replete with a dagger at his waist. The media seized upon this exotic scenario about which most Australians were totally ignorant. A little less than fourteen years later, on 6 April 1984, in what was described by Australian and United Nations officials as an act of self-determination, the Cocos Islanders voted for integration of the islands with Australia. The events of the intervening period shed some light on the Australian approach to self-determination and on the content and reality of any rules of self-determination, including the conjunction and disjunction between them and human rights generally. This is despite the salutory warning of Judge Dillard in the Western Sahara Case (It is for the people to determine the destiny of the territory and not the territory the destiny of the people'), since the approach to self-determination in the Cocos Islands and its result cannot be properly understood outside the historical (and lego-historical) context. Moreover, these events illuminate the broader issues of the auto-interpretative aspect of international law and the effect of the latter on Australian law.

Birds of the Cocos (Keeling) Islands, Indian Ocean

The birds of the Cocos (Keeling) Islands, Indian Ocean, were surveyed by T.S. and W.S. in January 1982 and other records by W.S. and K.D. are included. Thirty-four species are recorded, of which nine are new records for the islands. Three species, introduced between 1885-1906 and recorded in 1940-41 or 1958, are believed to be extinct. Very few land or sea birds remain on the main atoll and the large rookery of seabirds on North Keeling Island is threatened by a recent increase in the number of birds killed. The endemic subspecies of the Buff-banded Rail Rallus philippensis andraosi which is common on North Keeling Island but rare on the main atoll, appears to be endangered.

Darwin's Early Notes on Coral Reef Formation

Darwin's letters and some rough notes found in his field notebooks of 1835 confirm the statement in his Autobiography that he had formulated his theory of coral reef formation before the Beagle left South America and before he had seen a coral reef. His geological observations having convinced him of the elevation of the South American continent, Darwin predicted that evidence of a compensatory gradual subsidence of the Pacific Ocean floor would be found in the existence of shallow-water coral genera in the Pacific reef formations. The first draft of the theory was written on board the Beagle shortly after seeing the reefs of Moorea in November 1835. After visiting the Cocos (Keeling) Islands he wrote a summary of his view in a letter of April 1838, in which he expressed his conviction that he had found an explanation which would "put some of the facts in a more simple and connected point of view, than that in which they have hitherto been considered".

The Cocos-Keeling Islands

In recent years a sizeable literature has emerged concerning the Indian Ocean, owing in particular to the growth of perceived superpower rivalry and the resulting proposal by some littoral and regional states, notably Sri Lanka and India that the Indian Ocean should be declared a zone of peace. The strategic importance of the ocean has been dramatized by the build-up of the U. S. base in Diego Garcia. Every port and island has become of potential strategic importance as well. In the early 1970s, concern was expressed in the West over reports of Soviet bases at Berbera and Socotra in Somalia and the possible use of Gan in the Maldives after British withdrawal. As a highlight to this wider canvas, the Cocos-Keeling Islands emerged briefly in 1972 both as an internal Australian political issue which embarrassed the then ruling Liberal-Country party government and as a potentially embarrassing international issue at a time when Australia was preparing Papua-New Guinea for independence. However, the Cocos-Keeling Islands quickly slipped back into the obscurity from which they had briefly emerged, both during the period of Gough Whitlam's Labour government and later when the Liberal-Country party came back to power.

Achaea janata . [Distribution map

Abstract A new distribution map is provided for Achaea janata (L.) (Lep., Noctuidae) (Castor Semi-looper). Host Plants: Castor, cacao, Citrus , rice, rubber. Information is given on the geographical distribution in ASIA, Andaman Islands, Burma, Cocos-Keeling Islands, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Nicobar Islands, Pakistan, Philippines, Sikkim, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam (North), AUSTRALASIA and PACIFIC ISLANDS, Austral Islands, Australia, Caroline Islands, Cook Islands, Easter Island, Fiji, Gilbert Islands, Hawaii, Johnston Island, Marquesas Islands, Marshall Islands, New Caledonia, New Hebrides, Norfolk Island, Papua New Guinea, Phoenix Islands, Pitcairn Island, Samoa, American, and Western Society Islands, Tokelau, Tonga, Wallis Islands, Irian Jaya.

Diocalandra frumenti . [Distribution map

Abstract A new distribution map is provided for Diocalandra frumenti (F.) (= D. stigmaticollis Gylh.) (Col., Curculionidae) (Four-spotted Coconut Weevil). Host Plants: Coconut, date, nipa and oil palms. Information is given on the geographical distribution in ASIA, Burma, Ceylon, Cocos-Keeling Islands, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippine Islands, Singapore, Thailand, AFRICA, Madagascar, Seychelles, Somalia, Tanzania, AUSTRALASIA and PACIFIC ISLANDS, Australia, Caroline Islands, Mariana Islands, New Hebrides, Niue Island, Papua & New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Irian Jaya.

THE BLOOD GROUPS OF SOME COCOS ISLANDERS

OceaniaVolume 28, Issue 1 p. 73-76 Article THE BLOOD GROUPS OF SOME COCOS ISLANDERS G. Pattison, G. PattisonSearch for more papers by this authorOlga Kooptzoff, Olga Kooptzoff From the Department of Civil Aviation, Cocos Island and the New South Wales Red Cross Blood Transfusion Service, Sydney.Search for more papers by this author G. Pattison, G. PattisonSearch for more papers by this authorOlga Kooptzoff, Olga Kooptzoff From the Department of Civil Aviation, Cocos Island and the New South Wales Red Cross Blood Transfusion Service, Sydney.Search for more papers by this author First published: September 1957 https://doi.org/10.1002/j.1834-4461.1957.tb00719.x AboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditWechat Volume28, Issue1September 1957Pages 73-76 RelatedInformation

Frederic Wood Jones, 1879-1954

Frederic Wood Jones was born in London on 23 January 1879, the son of an architect of Welsh descent. As a boy he was a keen entomologist and showed an unusual interest in all branches of natural history. These pursuits engaged much of his attention during his school days and, with a number of interruptions due to ill-health, no doubt accounted for the fact that his school career was quite undistinguished, and that he also found some difficulty in passing the examination for the London University Matriculation. He finally matriculated in 1897 and entered the London Hospital as a medical student. It was here that he first showed evidence of his intellectual ability, for he won a succession of scholarships and prizes in anatomy, physiology and clinical medicine. It was at the London Hospital, also, that Wood Jones came under the influence of Chalmers Mitchell and Arthur Keith, to both of whom he later recorded his debt of gratitude for their stimulating influence. He qualified with the degrees of M.B., B.S. in 1904, and even while a student he had already contributed to the Proceedings of the Journal of Anatomy & Physiology (as it was then called) short notes on the musculature of the bladder and urethra, the development of the fundus of the stomach, and a method of reconstruction of a human embryo by photographic reproductions of serial sections. These early publications showed a certain originality of approach which was later to become a very characteristic quality of Wood Jones’s work. It is not surprising, therefore, that his teachers and friends hoped that, on qualification, he would settle down to an academic career in London. But, against all their advice, he left England in January 1905 to take up an appointment as Medical Officer to the Eastern Extension Telegraph Company in the Far East, and, after a short stay in Singapore, sailed for the Cocos-Keeling Islands. We do not know what decided him on this course, but it clearly fits into the pattern of the whole of his subsequent career, for he was essentially a wanderer and a seeker after adventure; indeed, he never stayed in any of the numerous positions which he held for more than a few years.

Boats and Fishing on the Cocos-Keeling Islands

Boats and Fishing on the Cocos-Keeling Islands

Plants, Seeds, and Currents in the West Indies and Azores The Results of Investigations carried out in those Regions between 1906 and 1914

THE author of this important work is a well-known authority on ocean currents and the geographical distribution of plants. His earlier writings on the geology and natural history of the Solomon Islands and the Cocos Keeling Islands, and his more recent work on “Plant Dispersal,” contain the results of many years' patient and exhaustive investigations in the Pacific region. In the present volume he deals in an equally thorough and careful manner with the numerous problems connected with plant distribution in the Atlantic region and embodies results of great scientific interest. Plants, Seeds, and Currents in the West Indies and Azores. The Results of Investigations carried out in those Regions between 1906 and 1914. By H. B. Guppy. Pp. xi + 531. (London: Williams and Norgate, 1917.) Price 25s. net.

The Origin and Composition of the Flora of the Keeling Islands

The Origin and Composition of the Flora of the Keeling Islands

A Naturalist's Wanderings in the Eastern Archipelago, a Narrative of Travel and Exploration from 1878 to 1883

MR. FORBES' Wanderings in the far East extended over about four and a half years, during which time he visited the Keeling Islands, Java, Sumatra, Amboyna, Timor Laut, Buru, and Timor. In Java, Sumatra, Burn, and Timor he made extensive inland journeys through districts rarely or never before visited by European naturalists; and as he everywhere collected assiduously and observed intelligently, the record of his travels is exceedingly interesting. His special studies were botanical and ethnological, and in these departments he has added much to our stores of knowledge. His observations on the manners and customs, the myths and superstitions of the various tribes among whom he resided or travelled will be of great value to anthropologists, owing to the wide range of his observations and the time and trouble he devoted to the inquiry. In zoology he did not collect largely, and indeed it was simply impossible for him to do so, since the continuous labour and attention needed to form a well-preserved herbarium in the damp equatorial climate and while almost constantly moving about, leave the traveller but little leisure to devote to. other departments of natural history. To collect effectually in any wild tropical country, the naturalist should settle himself for at least six months at a time in a good central position from which short excursions in various directions can be made; and if these headquarters are well chosen it is possible to obtain an almost perpetual “fine season,” and thus greatly increase both his collecting power and his personal enjoyment.

The Fauna and Flora of the Keeling Islands, Indian Ocean

I HAVE only recently been able to obtain my copy of Mr. Wallace's “Island Life,” in which I find an estimate of the fauna and flora of the Keeling Atoll in the South Indian Ocean. I had the fortune to visit that outlying spot in the year 1879, and made a collection both of its plants and of its animal life. With the exception of my birds and a few of the insects, my collections were destroyed by sea water, so that it is now impossible for me to give a definite list, but I may note that rats were in such numbers as to have become almost a plague. A goodly herd of introduced Rusas, a cross between the Sumatran (C. equinus) and Javan (C. Hippelaphus) species, were in excellent condition, and were living wild on Direction Island, where also pigs were living in the same state. Among birds, the Gallus bangkiva (introduced) was in considerable numbers; I saw also the nest of the Ploceus hypoxanthus, which comes, not every year, but very often to breed there, but the progeny seems either to die or to return to Java (?). I did not see the snipe, but of the Rallus philippinus I got several specimens. Egrets, blue and white, abounded and rested on the high trees on some of the islands. Lizards of several species are now found on most of the islands in large numbers. Of insects the number of species is very considerable. Coleoptera were represented by Melolonthidæ, Cetoniidæ, Carabidæ, Elateridæ, Chrysomelidæ, but as I have not my journals of that date by me, I cannot recall other families nor state the number of genera represented. Of Hemiptera I caught a good many species, mostly of small size. Many species of ants were observed. Neuroptera are represented, unfortunately, by the termite, introduced some years ago in furniture, it is said, but it occurs now on every islet of the group in myriads. I am told that during the cyclone of a few years ago, the whole surface of the sea was covered with the mangled bodies of dragon-flies for miles out to sea, but that since then very few have been seen. Of Lepidoptera I caught many species both diurnal and nocturnal, some very handsome, of which I sent a small collection to London in 1879. The Atlas Moth is rather common. Orthoptera were represented by the ubiquitous cockroach, and a few Acridiidæ.

Rainfall in the Tropics

MY studies on the distribution of rain oh the earth have often caused me to regret our want of knowledge about the quantity of water falling on the oceans, especially in the tropics. The observations on the continents and large islands are very apt to mislead us as to what takes place on the open sea. As there seem to be very great difficulties about observing rain-gauges at sea, I have thought it would be possible to gain some insight into the matter by placing rain-gauges on the smallest and lowest islands to be found on the ocean, the meteorological conditions of which differ but very little, if at all, from those of the ocean. In the Pacific such islands are to be found in plenty; in the Atlantic I would especially recommend the island of St. Paul 1/2° N. and 291/2° W.; in the Indian Ocean, the Southern Maledives, the Chagos, and Keeling Islands, &c.