The museum has been involved in biological sampling in Papua New Guinea since the mid-1980s, when then curator Ron Cole joined a research team from the Bishop Museum (headed up by now curator Andy Engilis) to sample small mammals and birds from Milne Bay Province in the region of Mount Dayman. At that time, this was only the second comprehensive small mammal survey to the region. One of the primary objectives of the project was to sample ectoparasites from small mammals and birds. The trip resulted in the sampling of some species of small mammals that have been rarely encountered by zoologists over the past 100 years, and several new species of ectoparasites have been described from the efforts. 

In 2016, scientists from the MWFB joined a multi-national team of researchers to conduct biodiversity surveys to the island of New Britain, Papua New Guinea. The expedition was coordinated by Senior Zoologist Dr. Allen Allison, of the Bishop Museum in Honolulu, Hawaii. Dr. Allison obtained his B.S. and PhD at the University of California, Davis and has organized and led numerous research expeditions over the past 40 years in Papua New Guinea. 

The goal of this expedition to the Baining Mountains was to fill gaps in understanding the incredibly rich biodiversity of the New Guinea region, which is home to the world’s third largest rainforest region, after the Amazon and Congo. Located just 4 degrees south of the Equator in eastern New Britain, the Bainings is comprised of primary rainforest and the peaks are known to receive up to 6 meters (nearly 20 feet) of rainfall annually. They have never been biologically surveyed in the past.