Daitō Islands
The are an archipelago consisting of three isolated coral islands in the Philippine Sea southeast of Okinawa. The islands have a total area of and a population of 2,107. Administratively, the whole group belongs to Shimajiri District of Okinawa Prefecture, and is divided between the villages of Minamidaitō and Kitadaitō, with uninhabited Okidaitōjima island administered as part of Kitadaitō municipality, although physically located closer to Minamidaitōjima. Etymology. "Kita", "minami", and "oki" means, respectively, "north", "south", and "offshore" while "daitō" means "great east". History. These islands have long been known in Okinawa as "Ufuagari" (“the Great East”). The islands  were first sighted by the Spanish navigator Bernardo de la Torre on 25 September 1543 (Okidaitōjima) and a few days later still in September (Minamidaitōjima and Kitadaitōjima), during his abortive attempt to reach New Spain from the Philippines with the "San Juan de Letran". They were visited later by European explorers of various nations, and were commonly known as the "Borodino Islands" after a Russian vessel surveyed them in 1820. The islands remained uninhabited until formally claimed by the Empire of Japan in 1885. In 1900, a team of pioneers from Hachijōjima, one of the Izu Islands located south of  Tokyo led by Tamaoki Han'emon (1838 – 1910), started a settlement on Minamidaitōjima, and began cultivating sugar cane. He subsequently led colonization efforts on Kitadaitōjima and Okidaitōjima. Those two islands had substantial deposits of guano, which was mined for phosphate-based fertilizer and gunpowder. By 1919, the population was more than 4000 people. During World War II, Minamidaitōjima was repeatedly attacked by the United States Navy. After World War II all of the islands were occupied by the United States, and administered as part of the United States Civil Administration of the Ryukyu Islands from 1950. The islands were returned to  Japan in 1972. Ecology. Being separated by more than 300 km from Ryukyu Islands, the nearest landmass, a unique and isolated ecosystem holding endemic species was established on Daitō Islands which doesn't include habu vipers naturally unlike many of Ryukyu Islands. Lack of snakes caused introduced and invasive toads to flourish and run rampant. Three main islands of Kita, Minami, and Oki were originally covered by virgin forests, however human activities including military exercise severely damaged and resulted in disappearing of forests and extinction of endemic species most notably on Okidaitōjima. Aside from eels, any fresh water fish and  amphibians had not been recorded in pre-exploration periods. Entire archipelago excluding Okidaitōjima and smaller islands is listed as a Wildlife Protection Areas in Japan extending for 4,251 hectare with a special protection zone of 234 hectare. Many of flora and fauna were named after the islands including Daito fruit bat, Daito buzzard, , Daito scops owl (listed in the natural monument of Japan), , (stag beetle), (cicada), Daito Little grebe, , , Daito Livistona, Daito Excoecaria, and Daito Crepidiastrum. Several of these such as , Daito varied tit, and Daito wren became extinct. The island group has been recognised as an Important Bird Area  (IBA) by BirdLife International. Migratory and oceanic species that breed on the islands include such as Laysan albatross, Black-winged stilt, tuna, skipjack tuna, Japanese Spanish mackerel, marlin, manta rays, Japanese spiny lobster, sea turtles, dolphins and Humpback whales. Among Ryukyu Islands, green pheasant is only present on Daitō Islands followed by corals and coral fish that are rare in the rest of the archipelago most notably Chaetodon auripes which is occasionally regarded as endemic to the islands and "Hemitaurichthys thompsoni" was only previously recorded in Bonin Islands. Black Jacks and knifejaws that have become rarer in Japanese waters still  occur as well.