Victor Valley College Tropical Research Initiative
Herpetofauna of Timor-Leste
Phase IV

Ataúro Island, Dili District

We visited Atauro in 2010 - click here to visit those pages

Timor-Leste comprises the eastern half of the island of Timor; the Oecusse exclave, located on the northern coast of Indonesian West Timor; the tiny island of Jaco, off the eastern tip of the island of Timor; and Ataúro Island to the north of Dili. The first three of these territories are located firmly in the Outer Banda Arc of the Lesser Sundas, with Roti, Sawu and Sumba islands of Indonesia, but Ataúro is in the northern, Inner Banda Arc, along with the Indonesian islands of Sumbawa, the Komodo Archipelago, Flores, Solor, Adonara, Lomblen, Pantar, Alor and Wetar. This means its geology, flora and fauna, are more closely related to that of Flores and Alor than Timor to the south.

The Inner and Outer Banda Arcs are geological, floristically and faunally different. click to enlarge map.

Ataúro Island is therefore of particular interest to the VVC herp survey team as it potentially offers us different species from those of Timor-Leste proper, to which end we first visited the island in 2010 and collected a new species of Bent-toed gecko (Cyrtodactylus sp.).

Map of Ataúro Island showing relevant locations	Google Earth map of Ataúro Island
Click on maps to enlarge