Yule Island

Yule Island

Location of Yule Island in Papua New Guinea
Geography
Coordinates
Country
Papua New Guinea
Province	Central Province

Yule Island is a small island in Central Province, Papua New Guinea. It lies 160 km from Port Moresby.

History

File:Yule.island.missionaries.1892.jpg

Missionaries and inhabitants after 1902

Yule Island was one of the first areas in Central Province to have contact with Europeans. Catholic missionaries settled there in 1885 and are still present.

With the European missionaries came catechists from the Philippines, some of which married into the local population. Today, many inhabitants of Yule Island have distinct Filipino features.

Fauna

Yule Island is surrounded by coral reefs.

Several spider species are endemic to this island, including:

• The jumping spider species Salticus perogaster and Plexippus brachypus
• Heteropoda cyanognatha and Pandercetes longipes (Sparassidae)
• Misumena arrogans and Stephanopis yulensis (Thomisidae)

The Early Pliocene Echinodermata fauna is rich and diverse, with 19 species known to occur in the Kairuku Formation. Nearly half of these species are also represented in northern Australia stocks, with the northern Great Barrier Reef only 600 km away.

References

• Papua New Guinea Tourism Promotion Authority: Central Province
• Platnick, Norman I.(2007): The world spider catalog, version 8.0. American Museum of Natural History.
• Hernandez, Alfredo P. (2006): Invading Papua New Guinea, Pinoy Style

Further reading

• Lindley, I. David (2003): Echinoids of the Kairuku Formation (Lower Pliocene), Yule Island, Papua New Guinea: Clypeasteroida. Regularia. Spatangoida. Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales 124: 125-162.
• Lindley, I. David (2004): The Yule Island fauna and the origin of tropical northern Australian echinoid (Echinodermata) faunas. Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales 125: 97-109.