Year: 1960
Type: article
Abstract: THE COOK ISLANDS are a group of small islands in the region of the central South Pacific bounded by 8°_23 ° S. and 156°-16r W. They are divisible into two groups, the nor thern Cooks which are small atolls, and the southern Cooks which, wi th one exception, are volcanic islands. Th e southern Cooks are surrounded by coral formations and in some cases have been raised so that the islands have a coral rim up to 300 ft. high. The largest island is Rarotonga, with an area of some 26 sq. mi. and rising to a height of 2,140 ft. The Society Islands, the next group to the east, lie some 600 mi. from Raroronga. The island of N iue will be considered to-gether with the Cook Islands. This isolated is-land does not belong to any group. It lies at 190 10 ' S. and 169 0 46 ' W., and consists of a flat coral formation raised to a height of some 220 ft. above the sea, with an area of about 100 sq. mi. It is situated some 580 mi. west of Ra-rotonga, 300 mi. east of Tonga, and 350 mi. southeast of Samoa. The spider fauna of these islands is not well known. Th e number of species recorded (Ber-land, 1934a; Marples, 1955a, 1957) are as fol-
Author: Marples, B J
Language: English
Subfield: Genetics
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2234699863