Kaijende Highlands

The Kaijende Highlands are a nearly uninhabited expanse of mountains near Porgera in Enga Province, Papua New Guinea.[1] The highlands have been characterized as "some of Papua New Guinea's most pristine and scenic montane habitat".[2] The Kaijende Highlands include Lake Tawa, Paiela Road, Omyaka Creek, Waile Creek and the Porgera Reservoir. The mountain range is 70 km north-west of Mount Hagen.[3] According to a survey conducted in 2007, "areas like Kaijende are characterized by pronounced dominance of microtherm families, most notably by Cunoniaceae, Epacridaceae, Ericaceae, Geraniaceae, Myrsinaceae, Podocarpaceae, Ranunculaceae, Rosaceae, Theaceae, Violaceae, and Winteraceae."[4]

The Kaijende Highlands have received media attention since 2005 due to a number of new species discovered in the area. A notable study compiled samples of 759 specimens from the Kaijende Highlands, which is among the largest surveys by CI-RAP in Papua New Guinea, and discovered 24 new species of plants and frogs among them. Other surveys have found new species of jumping spiders and other fauna.

  1. ^ Richards, Stephen J., ed. (2007). "A Rapid Biodiversity Assessment of the Kaijende Highlands, Enga Province, Papua New Guinea" (PDF). RAP Bulletin of Biological Assessment. ISBN 978-1-934151-08-2. Archived from the original (PDF) on 28 September 2011. Retrieved 14 November 2011.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference wildlifeextra was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ BirdLife International (2010).
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference bioone was invoked but never defined (see the help page).