Lord Howe Island, a Riddle of the Pacific 
S. J. Paramonov 1 
The riddle of the origin and natural history 
of Lord Howe Island is not yet solved and 
the progress of our knowledge only shows 
us that the problem is more complicated than 
we can suppose. The fact is that the island, 
being only 7 miles long and half a mile in 
width, has quite a strange flora and fauna. 
They are not an accidental mixture of intro- 
duced species or of very widely spread ele- 
ments, but consist of a number of endemic 
forms of which the relationships are not quite 
clear. Not only the presence of some families 
and genera is interesting but also the absence 
of others. 
Lord Howe Island is situated only 300 miles 
from Port Macquarie and 420 miles from 
Sydney (Fig. 1), but the basic flora is quite 
different from that of the mainland of Aus- 
tralia. Neither eucalypts nor acacias are rep- 
resented in its flora, nor parrots or magpies 
in its fauna. Norfolk Island is also not very 
far from Lord Howe Island (about 450 miles), 
but the araucarias, so typical of Norfolk Is- 
land, are quite absent on Lord Howe Island, 
although there are some beautiful specimens 
growing near homes as introduced trees. The 
typical elements of New Zealand are also 
practically absent on Lord Howe Island. The 
flora and fauna of Lord Howe Island are very 
specific, but where did their elements come 
from, if they are different from the countries 
westward, northward, and southward of Lord 
Howe Island? 
Our knowledge of the flora and fauna of 
1 Division of Entomology, C. S. I. R. O., Canberra, 
Australia. Manuscript received April 17, 1956. 
Lord Howe Island is very poor. We have not 
enough material for generalisation, although 
some interesting facts are known. Therefore, 
it will be wise to approach the problem only 
little by little by describing and analysing 
different groups of animals or plants. It will 
be useful to concentrate our attention on the 
problem not only in its details, but also as a 
whole. It seems to be that nobody yet has 
been especially concerned with this problem, 
but for the history of the Pacific it is doubt- 
less of very great importance. In order to 
understand the fauna and flora it is necessary 
always to have in mind the following facts: 
1. On Lord Howe Island are growing four 
different species of palms, all endemic (Figs. 
2, 4). That gives us a reason to think that the 
flora of the island is basically a tropical one. 
We cannot expect the development of four 
species of palms in quite recent time, so that 
it is quite evident that a mild climate has 
existed on the island for a very long time, 
and the fauna also must have developed the 
elements characteristic of a subtropical or 
tropical origin. 
2. There are two mountains on the island 
(2,500 ft. and 2,800 ft.) which can give a 
place for development of the elements of a 
flora and fauna typical of a more temperate 
climate. (See Fig. 3.) 
3. Apart from bats, mammals are absent 
from the island, nor are there fossils evident. 
There are only rats and mice, introduced by 
man. The rats have played an extremely im- 
portant part in the impoverishment of the 
fauna. They caused the extinction of not only 
82 
