Echinoderms from the subantarctic islands of New Zealand: Asteroidea, Ophiuroidea, and Echinoidea, Cape Expedition, 1941-1945

Occurrence
Latest version published by Southwestern Pacific Ocean Biogeographic Information System (OBIS) Node on May 14, 2020 Southwestern Pacific Ocean Biogeographic Information System (OBIS) Node

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Description

This report is based on the collections of specimens and data in the Auckland and Campbell Islands in the years 1941-45. Early in 1941, coast-watching stations were established at Port Ross, Carnley Harbour, and Perseverance Harbour, and the personnel of from three to five men at each were relieved once a year. Standing instructions issued by the Navy Office included a recommendation that the men should, in addition to service routine, record general observations on natural phenomena. This report is regarded as of the Cape Expedition which was the war-time code name for parties in the field between 1941 and 1945.

The Subantarctic Islands of New Zealand comprise five groups, all standing upon the New Zealand submarine plateau. They share an echinoderm fauna which presents many resemblances to that of the New Zealand mainland, though possessing distinctive features of its own. Of the five groups on the plateau, two - namely the Auckland Islands and Campbell Island - were visited by Th. Mortensen in 1914, and as a result of his studies, together with some previous work, notably that of Farquhar (1898) and Benham (1909), the faunal relationships above noted were fairly clear. This data set collected by the Cape Expedition consolidated and confirmed all of Mortensens conclusions and supplemented them with fresh data from the Snare and the Antipodes groups.

Data Records

The data in this occurrence resource has been published as a Darwin Core Archive (DwC-A), which is a standardized format for sharing biodiversity data as a set of one or more data tables. The core data table contains 90 records.

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How to cite

Researchers should cite this work as follows:

Fell H B (2020): Echinoderms from the subantarctic islands of New Zealand: Asteroidea, Ophiuroidea, and Echinoidea, Cape Expedition, 1941-1945. v1.0. Southwestern Pacific Ocean Biogeographic Information System (OBIS) Node. Dataset/Occurrence. https://nzobisipt.niwa.co.nz/resource?r=nzsubantechinoderms&v=1.0

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The publisher and rights holder of this work is Southwestern Pacific Ocean Biogeographic Information System (OBIS) Node. To the extent possible under law, the publisher has waived all rights to these data and has dedicated them to the Public Domain (CC0 1.0). Users may copy, modify, distribute and use the work, including for commercial purposes, without restriction.

GBIF Registration

This resource has been registered with GBIF, and assigned the following GBIF UUID: 50965b5c-b6ac-4cea-9c73-1afe5bb0ec91.  Southwestern Pacific Ocean Biogeographic Information System (OBIS) Node publishes this resource, and is itself registered in GBIF as a data publisher endorsed by Ocean Biodiversity Information System.

Keywords

Occurrence; Observation

Contacts

H. Barraclough Fell
  • Metadata Provider
  • Originator
  • Point Of Contact
  • Professor
Victoria University of Wellington
Wellington
NZ

Geographic Coverage

Subantarctic islands of New Zealand: Auckland Islands, Snares Island, Campbell Island; and Bounty Islands

Bounding Coordinates South West [-52.6, 166], North East [-47.7, 180]

Taxonomic Coverage

Asteroidea, Ophiuroidea, and Echinoidea

Class Asteroidea, Ophiuroidea, Echinoidea

Temporal Coverage

Start Date / End Date 1941-01-01 / 1950-11-30

Project Data

The Cape Expedition was the deliberately misleading name given to a secret five-year wartime program of establishing coastwatching stations on New Zealand’s more distant uninhabited subantarctic islands. The decision to do so was made by the New Zealand Government's War Cabinet in December 1940, with the program terminating at the end of the Pacific War in 1945.

Title Cape Expedition
Study Area Description Three stations were established, at Ranui Cove in Port Ross at the northern end, and at Carnley Harbour at the southern end, of Auckland Island, and at Perseverance Harbour, Campbell Island. The stations were small, with four men (increased to five in the second year) at each. At first the coastwatchers were civilians, but all were attested as privates in the New Zealand Army from December 1942. The stations consisted of portable prefabricated huts with double plywood walls and double windows. Each station also had a dinghy with an outboard motor. Because it was understood that resupplying them could be problematic and sporadic, the stations were provided with three years' supply of food, clothing and other consumables. A larger vessel, the 57-ton MV Ranui with a crew of four, was based at Waterfall Inlet in the Aucklands to serve as a link between the stations and, in an emergency, the outside world.
Design Description Three stations were established, at Ranui Cove in Port Ross at the northern end, and at Carnley Harbour at the southern end, of Auckland Island, and at Perseverance Harbour, Campbell Island. The stations were small, with four men (increased to five in the second year) at each. At first the coastwatchers were civilians, but all were attested as privates in the New Zealand Army from December 1942. The stations consisted of portable prefabricated huts with double plywood walls and double windows. Each station also had a dinghy with an outboard motor. Because it was understood that resupplying them could be problematic and sporadic, the stations were provided with three years' supply of food, clothing and other consumables. A larger vessel, the 57-ton MV Ranui with a crew of four, was based at Waterfall Inlet in the Aucklands to serve as a link between the stations and, in an emergency, the outside world.

The personnel involved in the project:

Robert Falla
W. H. Dawbin
R. W. Balham
R. K. Dell
J. S. Jones
C. A. Fleming

Bibliographic Citations

  1. Fell, H.B. (1953). Echinoderms from the subantarctic islands of New Zealand: Asteroidea, Ophiuroidea, and Echinoidea. Records of the Dominion Museum 2: 73-111. 2 plates.

Additional Metadata

marine, harvested by iOBIS