Malaita Province is Auki, which was established as the Administrative center for Malaita Province in 1909. Tourism is largely underdeveloped in Malaita; Auki is near to the Langa Langa Lagoon, which provides opportunities for snorkeling, and the villagers provide shell making demonstrations. The population of the province is 122,620 (1999). The area of the province is . The Melanesian population of Malaita has unique cultural traditions in social aspects of life. Brideprice is a tradition which is unique to Malaita compared to the other islands of the Solomon Islands. In this practice the groom's parents present customary money of shells and food
Malaita dwarf kingfisher to species status. At the same time the name of the variable dwarf kingfisher was changed to the Moluccan dwarf kingfisher. Malaita dwarf kingfisher The Malaita dwarf kingfisher ("Ceyx malaitae"), is a species of bird in the family Alcedinidae that is endemic to Malaita Island. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests. This species was formerly considered as one of the 15 recognised subspecies of what was then known as the variable dwarf kingfisher ("Ceyx lepidus" or "Alcedo lepidus"). A molecular phylogenetic study published in 2013 found that most of the insular subspecies had substantially diverged from