Should be just a matter of counting Bill. However you’d need to define ‘New Guinea’. I would regard that as the single island (which is occupied by Papua New Guinea and Indonesia), excluding the
associated islands (New Britain, Bougainville etc) which form part of Papua New Guinea or those being part of Indonesia (Aru, Biak). Endemic-generating islands boost totals counted on a national basis.
Some years ago I counted honeyeater species, largest family in both Australia and New Guinea, and there were about 70 species in each.
From: Bill Hall <>
Sent: Friday, 3 August 2018 5:18 PM
To:
Subject: [canberrabirds] Song birds
Dear All, I have had the following request from a colleague at St Louis University in St louis Missouri “. How many native species passerines are found in New Guinea vs. continental Australia
vs. Tasmania?” Any information would be appreciated. I assume that he is not asking for endemic species in each case , but total per locale.
Bill Hall
