Together with the islands of Sumatra (Indonesia) and Borneo (Indonesia, Malaysia), the Philippines are the main center of diversity for carnivorous pitcher plants of the genus, Nepenthes L. Nepenthes are the largest of all carnivorous plants, and the species with the biggest pitchers are capable of trapping and digesting small amphibians and even mammals. The central cordillera of Mindanao Island in the south of the Philippines is mostly covered with old, primary forest and is the largest remaining cohesive, untouched area of wilderness in the Philippines. In a recent field exploration of two areas of the central cordillera, namely Mount Sumagaya and a section of the Pantaron range, four new taxa of Nepenthes were discovered. These four remarkable new species, N. pantaronensis, N. cornuta, N. talaandig and N. amabilis, are described, illustrated and assessed.
Vaccinium hamiguitanense, a new species from the Philippines, is described and illustrated. The new species is most similar to V. gitingense Hook. f. but differs by having smaller leaf blades, leaf blade margins with 2 to 4 impressed more or less evenly distributed crenations (glands) per side, inflorescences with fewer flowers, shorter pedicels that are puberulent and muriculate, and a glabrous floral disk. The new species is endemic to Mt. Hamiguitan Range Wildlife Sanctuary in Davao Oriental Province of Mindanao Island in Tropical Upper Montane Rain Forest and low (“bonsai”) forest on clay derived from ultramafic rock. We assign an IUCN Red List preliminary status as Data Deficient.
Reptiles are highly sensitive to environmental change and are vulnerable to habitat disturbance. This study was conducted to determine the species richness and endemism of reptiles using the modified cruising method in 12 randomly selected plots inside a 1-hectare plot in four Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) sites in Mindanao, namely: Mts. Apo, Kitanglad, Hamiguitan, and Malindang. Twenty-two reptile species belonging to eight families and 16 genera were documented in the four LTER sites. The level of reptile endemism was 64% where three out of 14 endemic species are found only in Mindanao. Mt. Hamiguitan had the highest species diversity (H'=2.4972) and species richness (n=18) with 11 (72%) endemic species, while the rest of the sites had very minimal number of species (n≤2). Among the recorded species, Psammodynastes pulverulentus had the highest number of individuals which was only recorded in Mt. Hamiguitan while the Philippine endemic, Parvoscincus decipiens was the most distributed species. Two threatened species, Hydrosaurus pustulatus and Ophiophagus hannah with vulnerable conservation status were recorded. Seriation analysis showed that high-elevation areas such as Mts. Apo and Kitanglad only host endemic and restricted species while Mt. Hamiguitan, a low-elevation forest, hosts endemic, non-endemic, and threatened species. Results suggest that the Mindanao LTER sites are good habitats for endemic and vulnerable species of reptiles and protection is needed. Brown et al., 2013a). The Philippines houses not less than 270 species of reptiles with 74% en-demism (Brown et al., 2013a). Habitat loss, invasive species, and hunting for food or wildlife trading threaten their diversity (Sodhi et al., 2004;Collen et al., 2009). Reptiles are sensitive to habitat changes (Tolhurst et al., 2016) and could serve as good environmental indicators, providing an excellent preliminary point for inventory and monitoring of biodiversity (Ngilangil et al., 2014).Several areas in the country have been compre-
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