The Maluku Islands are an archipelago within Indonesia. Thectonically they are located on the Halmahera plate. The islands are known as the Spice islands due to the nutmec, mace and cloves that were originally exclusively found there, and the presence of these leaded to colonial interest from Europe in the 16th Century. Since 1999 the region is split in 2 provinces : North Maluku and Maluku. The ecology of the Maluku islands has fascinated naturalists for centuries. Alfred Russell Walace has spend a large part of his study on the Origin of Species in the Maluku islands. The island lie between the Weber’s line and Lydekker’s line and thus have a fauna that is rather more Australasian than Asian. The Flora and Fauna migration between islands has been restricted, caused by the sea being a barrier that can not be crossed. This leaded to a high rate of endemic species evovling in the region.



