The Herpetological Stamps of the Solomon Islands · 1982:Definitives:Reptiles2....

The Herptile 34 : 3 Sept. 2009.

The Herpetological Stamps of the Solomon Islands

Mark O’Shea

Awhile ago I wrote a two-part article on the herpetological stamps of Papua New Guinea

(O’Shea 2006a, b), the eastern half of the second largest island in the world.At the time I

alluded to the fact that I planned to write occasional articles on the herpetological stamp

issues of various countries and I hinted that the Solomon Islands might be next. It is, and

here it is. As with the first PNG article I think a paragraph or two about the country in

question might be a good starting point, to help you orientate yourselves. I am certain

you have heard of the Solomon Islands, but could you stick a pin in them on the map?

Okay, you know where New Guinea is, that large island sprawling like a giant bird (or

more apt for this publication, goanna) across the tropical sea, to the north of Australia.

Well, the Solomon Islands are the next country east, but it is not quite as simple as that

and certainly not as simple or neighbourly as the BBC would have us believe. In the epic

and spectacular recent six-part series “South Pacific” the narrator announced that the

Solomons were only 60miles (96kms) from New Guinea. Politically yes, geographically,

no! Off the eastern coast of the eastern half of the island of New Guinea lie several

archipelagos. In the southeast are the Trobriand, Louisiade and d'Entrecasteaux

Archipelagos, to the north-northeast lie the Admiralty Islands, and to the east lies the

BismarckArchipelago, including the large islands of New Britain (38 largest island in the

world) and New Ireland (93 largest). Go further east, zoogeographically travelling into

the Solomons region, and you will come to an elongate island stretching north-northwest

to south-southeast. This is Bougainville (79 largest), and to its north is the much smaller

Buka Island, the two being the main islands of North Solomons Province, of Papua New

Guinea – politically you are still in PNG.

But only 60miles (96kms) off the southern coast of Bougainville lie the tiny islands of

Shortlands and Fauro¹ and these are the northwestern-most islands of the some 922

rugged, jungle islands and coral-atolls, scattered across almost 1670kms of the Coral

Sea to the southeast, that make up the Republic of the Solomons Islands. The largest

islands are Malaita (140 ), Isabel (146 ), Makira (157 ), Choiseul (164 ), and of course

Guadalcanal (110 ), famous as one of the places where John Wayne gave the Imperial

JapaneseArmy a bloody nose during WWII (he certainly got about that guy).

The Solomons were colonised by Polynesians from the east and Papuans from the

west, and in the 16 and 17 centuries they were colonised by the Spanish, by way of

Peru, the original but the Spanish colonies declined and all that

survive now are the Hispanic names of some of the islands. The Dutch, French, British

and Americans all paid visits to the islands but the warlike head-hunting, cannibalistic

habits of the locals, who would butcher visitors whenever the opportunity presented

itself, soon earned the Solomons an unenviable reputation and the archipelago became

one of those places you just sailed past and peered at through a telescope.

th

rd

th

th th th th

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Long Way Round,

¹ Shortlands and Fauro, the northwestern-most islands of the Solomons, may be only 60 miles (96kms) from

political PNG i.e. Bougainville, but they are at least 400miles (644kms) from the island of New Guinea, hence

the confusion of the BBC statement since one presumes they were talking about New Guinea from a

zoogeographical standpoint, not PNG as a sovereign state.

Journal of The International Herpetological Society

85

However, by the late 1800's the British and Germans had established colonies of some

worth and then they did a little horse-trading, the British swopping Western Samoa² with

the Germans for their Solomons colonies (well it beats trading cards in the school

playground). The Solomon Islands became the British Solomon Islands Protectorate in

1899 and remained that way until the Japanese invasion of 1942. World War Two came

to the Solomons and how! During 1942 and 1943 the US Marines battled their way

across the archipelago, forcing the Japanese back until they were isolated enough to

ignore in the extreme northwest. Post-war, the islands slowly recovered and gained their

independence as the Republic of the Solomon Islands in 1978.

The reptile and amphibian fauna is fairly diverse with a substantial number of endemics.

The best sources are McCoy (1980 & 2006a) and Menzies (2006), but McCoy (2006b)³

also provides a very readable account of the islands. As for the herpetological stamps,

curiously not even a sea turtle appeared on a stamp whilst the archipelago was the

British Solomon Islands but since Independence reptiles and amphibians have

appeared on both commemoratives and definitives (see below). The Solomons went

decimal in 1966 and since then the currency has been Solomons dollars and cents.

There are two main types of stamp issues. Commemoratives are issued to

commemorate an event, a person or to celebrate a particular subject. They generally

have a short shelf-life and are withdrawn from service after a few weeks or months. Many

countries incorporate reptile and amphibian subjects in their commemorative stamp

issues. Most of the herpetological stamps in the previously described PNG articles

(O'Shea 2006a&b) were commemoratives. The other type of stamp issue is the

definitive issue. These are the regular stamps of the realm, like our own Queen's head

stamps, and they remain on sale for several years and are reprinted, discontinued,

added to, and reissued on an individual basis or in small batches.

Most countries do not include reptiles or amphibians on their definitives. PNG only

included one, the crocodile hunters from their 1973 19-stamp “traditional activities”

series. The Solomons excelled themselves, they went for an entirely herpetological

definitive series.

Unlike southern New Guinea, the Solomons were never part of a continental landmass,

having formed from volcanic activity and the uplifting of oceanic ridge-lines. During

glacial times the same lowered sea-levels that would have permitted a man in prehistoric

gumboots to walk from Australia to New Guinea, also probably allowed passage

between some of the islands in the Solomons, but even then they were not linked to New

Guinea or anywhere else. The fauna of the Solomons reflects the remoteness of the

archipelago, the native mammals consisting mostly of rats and bats, seven species of

the former and forty of the latter, and one cuscus, a nocturnal, arboreal, big-eyed,

prehensile-tailed marsupial. And of course since the arrival of man, feral cats, goats and

pigs have colonised and wreaked havoc.

²

³

A good move on behalf of the British since Germany would cede all her colonies at the end of the Great War

(WWI) and Western Samoa would once again come back under the wing of the British Crown

I reviewed this book for the January 2008 issue of , the magazine of the Royal Geographical

Society.

Geographical


86

1979: Definitives: Reptiles 1.

The first issue in 1979 comprising 16 stamps, was a strong and a very impressive

production. It was not so much the quality of the artwork on the stamps. Despite some

slightly strange artwork, all the subjects are identifiable down to family, even to genus,

and most to species although a few might cause even a South Pacific herpetologist like

Mike McCoy to scratch his head if it were not for the fact they were labelled with both

common and scientific names (with one exception). It is more the fact that they made the

effort to honour their herpetofauna on a set of stamps, knowing that Solomon Islanders

would be licking the backs of them for years to come.

Considering how reptiles are feared, loathed and despised across much of the region,

this must be seen as a brave move, and it is the thought that counts here. Perhaps this

had something to do with the fact that nobody ever seems to die of snakebite, despite the

islands having three terrestrial elapids, and several sea snakes. When I went into the

main Boroko post office in Port Moresby, PNG, to pick up some of my own venomous

snake stamps to stick on some letters, first the post mistress denied they had issued any

snake stamps, and then refused to look at them as she reluctantly had to handle them in

order to sell them to me.And those were only commemoratives with a six-month lifespan

at best. Imagine the nervous breakdowns and employment vacancies in the post office if

PostPNG issued a long-standing set of snake definitives.

So onto the actual set of 16 herp stamps. The subjects are listed below and amount to

five snakes, five lizards, five frogs, and a crocodile. The scientific name on the stamp is

not only spelled correctly and in a remarkable high number of cases the name remains

the same today, 30years later – only the generic name for the anglehead (15c) needs

correcting to , while the suffix for the coconut treesnake (4c) needs attention,

oh, and the cane toad's genus has changed to but why the Solomons wanted to

celebrate this introduce SouthAmerican pest has me puzzled. I would however question

some of the common names, as detailed below, but common names are more a matter

of personal taste and none are too far from the mark, although curiously no name was

provided for the mourning gecko (10c), surely an oversight. My favourite is the $1.00

monkey-tail skink, curiously referred to as “large skink” when I am sure they meant “giant

skink”.

The most disappointing stamp is probably the Pacific boa (6c), which is really nothing

like, either the slender tree boa ( ), which does not occur in the Solomons, nor

its former subspecies, the stocky ground boa ( ) which does. It is probably

based on and intended to represent the South Pacific treeboa ( ). The identity of

the monitor lizard (12c.) is also a little hard to confirm because the markings on its back

are much larger and dark-centred than any I have seen on the generally speckled to

small-spotted mangrove monitor ( ), although it may represent a former

subspecies, now elevated to specific status, the Isabel monitor ( ) which has

larger markings. However, this does not distract from an attractive set of stamps, a set

well worth mounting or framing.

HypsilurusRhinella

C.carinataC.paulsoni

C.bibroni

V.indicusV.spinulosus


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The Herptile 34 : 3 Sept. 2009.


88

Value Common name on stamp Scientific name on stamp Correct common Current scientific name

Value Common name on stamp Scientific name on stamp Correct common name Current scientific name

1c Sea snake Yellow-lipped sea krait

3c Red-banded tree snake Brown treesnake

4c Whip snake Coconut treesnake

6c Pacific boa South Pacific treeboa

8c Skink Copper-striped skink

10c n/a Mourning gecko

12c Monitor Mangrove monitor

15c Anglehead Godeffroy’s anglehead

20c Giant toad Cane toad

25c Marsh frog Wrinkled ground frog

30c Horned frog Günther’s triangle frog

35c Tree Frog Treasury Is. treefrog

45c Guppy’s snake Solomons coralsnake

$1.00 Large skink Monkey-tailed skink

$2.00 Guppy’s frog Guppy’s frog

$5.00 Estuarine crocodile Estuarine crocodile

18c Leatherback turtle Leatherback sea turtle

35c Loggerhead turtle Loggerhead sea turtle

45c Pacific Ridley turtle Pacific Ridley sea turtle

50c Green turtle Green sea turtle

Laticauda colubrina Laticauda colubrinaBoiga irregularis Boiga irregularis

Dendrelaphis calligaster Dendrelaphis calligastraCandoia carinata Candoia bibroniEmoia cyanura Emoia cyanura

Lepidodactylus lugubris Lepidodactylus lugubrisVaranus indicus Varanus indicus

Goniocephalus godeffroyi Goniocephalus godeffroyiBufo marinus Rhinella marina

Platymantis solomonis Platymantis solomonisCeratobatrachus guentheri Ceratobatrachus guentheri

Litoria thesaurensis Litoria thesaurensisSalomonelaps par Salomonelaps parCorucia zebrata Corucia zebrata

Discodeles guppyi Discodeles guppyiCrocodylus porosus Crocodylus porosus

Dermochelys coriacea Dermochelys coriaceaCaretta caretta Caretta caretta

Lepidochelys olivacea Lepidochelys olivaceaChelonia mydas Chelonia mydas

1979: Turtles.

Clearly on a roll the Solomons issued a set of herpetological commemorative the same

year as the definitives. The subjects were the sea turtles, although having no land-based

or fresh water chelonians they termed them simply “Turtles”.

This set of four species

explains the reason why the

previous set lacked any

turtles. This is a pleasant little

set illustrating four of the five

marine turtles occurring in the

islands, although it has to be

said that the loggerhead (35c)

and green turtle (50c) look

remarkably like the same

turtle from two slightly

different angles. The only

species missing is the

hawksbill (

).

Eretmochelysimbricata


89



Only three years after the Reptiles 1. definitives, another series appeared consisting of

five stamps. The first four were reprints from the original 1979 issue (12c, 25c, $1.00 &

$5.00), distinguishable from the original print run only by a small ‘1992’ on the bottom of

the stamp. The fifth stamp was a new issue valued at $10.00 and it featured the missing

hawksbill turtle. I like the order and planning shown by the postal service of the Solomon

Islands, even if they could do with Tell Hicks as their artist.


12c Monitor Mangrove monitor

25c Marsh frog Wrinkled ground frog

$ 1.00 Large skink Prehensile-tailed skink

$ 5.00 Estuarine crocodile Estuarine crocodile

$10.00 Hawksbill turtle Hawksbill sea turtle

Varanus indicus Varanus indicusPlatymantis solomonis Platymantis solomonis

Corucia zebrata Corucia zebrataCrocodylus porosus Crocodylus porosus

Eretmochelys imbricata Eretmochelys imbricata

And the very next year, clearly enjoying themselves immensely, the heroic Solomons

postal service issued a third instalment from the definitives stable – now do you see what

I mean about these stamps being issued in batches and lasting for years! Once again we

have a reprint, the 30c triangle frog, again distinguished by the '1983' printed at the

bottom. The other two stamps were new subjects and new denominations. The 40c

features a blindsnake although this subject is not quite what it seems. The snake

originally known as is now placed in a separate genus

(Wallach, 1995) a genus of sharp-nosed blindsnakes containing five

species, four in the PNG-Solomons region and one from Luzon, Philippines. The

blindsnake now known as occurs in the Bismarck Archipelago of PNG,

well to the east of the Solomons, while two related species, and the

confusingly called , inhabit Bougainville, Northern Solomons Province,

PNG (remember). The only species occurring in the Solomons proper is ,

so I suppose we must assume that it was the planned subject for this stamp.

Ramphotyhlops subocularisAcutotyphlops

A.subocularisA.kunuaensis

A.solomonisA.infralabialis


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The final new definitive is the 50c stamp of the banded palm gecko, one of only two

species from the hugely specious genus to occur in the archipelago. The

banded palm gecko is confined to the island of Guadalcanal, where incidentally the

national capital Honiara is located, while the other species, the Solomons palm gecko

( ) is distributed country wide. There is no doubt which species is illustrated,

however, the black head and body marking and white tail tip make the artwork almost

identical to a photograph of in McCoy, 2006a.

Cyrtodactylus

C.solomonis

C.biordinis

4


30c Horned frog Günther’s triangle frog

40c Burrowing snake Sharp-nosed blind snake

50c Tree gecko Banded palm gecko

Ceratobatrachus guentheri Ceratobatrachus guentheriRamphotyphlops subocularis Acutotyphlops infralabialis

Cyrtodactylus biordinis Cyrtodactylus biordinis

1997: 50 Anniversary of the South Pacific Commission: Turtles.th

The SPC was set up in 1947 to help the emerging South Pacific nations with land use,

fishery controls, education,

agricultural research, public

health and a multitude of other

projects.

When the Solomons cel-

ebrated its 50 anniversary

they chose to issue a set of four

stamps showing the life cycle

of a green sea turtle (

) from egg laying,

through the hatchlings racing

to the sea, growing in the

ocean, and finally starting a

meaningful relationship with a

green sea turtle of the opposite

sex, as everything goes full

circle.

.

th

Cheloniamydas

4Cyrtodactylus, the largest gecko genus in the world, currently contains 120 species


91

No common names are applied but the scientific name is included in the right margin and

each stamp bears the exciting slogan 50 CPS 1947-1997 SPC (there are French

speaking members in the SPC), hence subscript .

Many countries hold philatelic exhibitions and Philex France is the French version.

The Solomons contribution was a sheet set of twelve $1.00 stamps printed together to

form a composite picture. This arrangement is known as . The subject chosen

was marine life, a popular choice for island countries since it enables them to show a

variety of fish, invertebrates, marine mammals and even divers in the collection. A

common inclusion is a sea turtle and on this occasion the most popular and widely

illustrated green sea turtle was illustrated.

th

eme

eme

Value Description of stamp Scientific name on stamp

Value Description of stamp Scientific name on stamp

50c Female green sea turtle laying eggs

90c Young green sea turtles heading for the sea “

$1.50 Young green sea turtles growing in the ocean “

$2.00 Courting pair of adult green sea turtles “

$1.00 Green sea turtle

Chelonia mydas

Chelonia mydas

1999: PhilexFrance ’99: Marine life.

se-tenant


92

2001: Hong Kong 2001 Stamp Exhibition.

2001: Chinese Year of the Snake.

The fact that there was a stamp exhibition in Hong Kong in 2001, the Year of the Snake,

led to a plethora of countries producing snake related stamps, many of them painfully

bad. After so many excellent issues from the Solomons one might expect them to have

excelled.... but they didn’t, the two stamps issued for the Hong Kong exhibition show

bland serpentine representations accompanied by the Hong Kong 2001 logo.

‘nough said!

Another set of Chinese New Year stamps, did someone realise how awful the previous

issue was?

$1.70 Snake and emblem

$2.30 Snake and emblem

Value Description of stamp


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Not very imaginatively this set of four stamps in a minisheet, includes a curious

background of what looks like a stretch of limestone coastline, and it is once again a crib

from the earlier definitives. All four stamps are obviously snakes and all four are valued

at $1.00, in a rather computer-like font, and over-stamped boldly with “Year of the Snake

2001”. Hmmm!


$1.00 Red-banded tree snake Brown treesnake

$1.00 Whip snake Coconut treesnake

$1.00 Pacific boa Pacific treeboa

$1.00 Guppy’s snake Solomons coralsnake

$ 1.50 Prehensile-tailed skink

$ 2.60 “ “

$ 3.00 “ “

$10.00 “ “

Boiga irregularis Boiga irregularisDendrelaphis calligaster Dendrelaphis calligastra

Candoia carinata Candoia bibroniSalomonelaps par Salomonelaps par

Corucia zebrata

2005: WWF Prehensile-tailed skink.

Value Common name on stamp Scientific name on stamp


94

But we have, as they say, left the best to last. I have two favourite skinks, the crocodile

skink ( ) featured on a PNG stamp in 1978 (O'Shea 2006a), and itself

featured on the cover of 31(3), and the prehensile-tailed or monkey-tailed

skink ( ) which has already impressed me on the $1.00 1979 Solomons

definitive.

So imagine how pleased I was to find the Solomons had issued an entire set of stamps

dedicated to this fascinating and endangered species.

The four stamps carry the WWF logo and consist simply of four different views of

clambering around in the vegetation.

So detailed are they that they must be artwork produced from photographs or real-life,

quiet a step on from some of the earlier artwork. Not only are the four stamps available as

a set, they are also available as a minisheet containing eight (two of each) surrounded by

a scene from the rainforest with a monkey-tail climbing steadfastly up a treetrunk, the

words ‘Solomon Islands’ emblazoned across the top and the common and scientific

names at the bottom. My only criticism is that the scientific names are not italicised, but

really I am being a bit picky. This really is a very nice set of stamps enabling me to finish

this article on a high note.

Tribolonotus gracilisThe Herptile

Corucia zebrata

Corucia

References

McCoy, M.

McCoy, M.McCoy, M.Menzies, J.

O'Shea, M.

O'Shea, M.

Wallach, V.

1980 Wau Ecology Institute Handbook

No.7. xi+80pp.

2006 Pensoft, Sofia. 147pp.

2006 Zipolo Habu. 176pp

2006 . Pensoft, Sofia.

x+346pp.

2006 The Herpetological Stamps of Papua New Guinea.

31(3):83-93.

2006 The Dangerous Snakes of Papua New Guinea, a commemorative

stamp issue. 31(4):132-140.

1995. A new genus for the species group

(Serpentes: Typhlopidae), with description of a new species.

6: 132-150.

Reptiles of the Solomon Islands.

Reptiles of the Solomon Islands.Solomon Islands:ASouth Seas Journey.

The Frogs of New Guinea and the Solomon Islands

The Herptile

The HerptileRamphotyphlops subocularis

AsiaticHerpetological Research


95

Postscript:

2007: WWF Marine Turtles (Papua New Guinea)

Hard on the heels of my series, PostPNG produced another

set of herpetological stamps, so I include them here as a postscript to the Solomons

stamp issues. The full set comprises six stamps, each featuring one of the six sea turtles

species found in Papuan waters. All correctly labelled with common and scientific

names, even if the term 'turtle' is used in place of 'sea turtle', and a four stamp minisheet

illustrating juvenile sea turtles under a panorama of a rather washed-out tropical island

with a hawksbill sea turtle ( ) skimming over a reef.

The images are all photographs and whilst one or two are a little lacking in character or

photographic quality I do think this a worthy and collectable set, especially when you

realise there are actually ten different stamps in this set. It is especially pleasing to see a

stamp featuring the flatback sea turtle ( ) a species confined to

Australian and Papuan waters and usually omitted from sea turtle stamp sets.

Dangerous Snakes of PNG

Eretmochelys imbricata

Natator depressus

Value Common name on stamp Scientific name on stamp Correct common name

10t Hawksbill turtle Hawksbill sea turtle

35t Flatback turtle Flatback sea turtle

85t Loggerhead turtle Loggerhead sea turtle

K3 Leatherback turtle Leatherback sea turtle

K3.35 Green turtle Green sea turtle

K5.35 Olive Ridley turtle Olive Ridley sea turtle

Eretmochelys imbricataNatator depressus

Caretta carettaDermochelys coriacea

Chelonia mydasLepidochelys olivacea


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Minisheet

Value Common name on stamp Scientific name on stamp Correct common name85t Flatback turtle Flatback sea turtle

K3 Leatherback turtle Leatherback sea turtle

K3.35 Green turtle Green sea turtle

K5.35 Olive Ridley turtle Olive Ridley sea turtle

Natator depressusDermochelys coriacea

Chelonia mydasLepidochelys olivacea


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