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Palawan Sun Skink

    Leaves, twigs, and barks that have fallen to the ground make up leaf litter, and it's home to a wide variety of plants and animals. Most of the tiny animals found in the leaf litter are invertebrates. They are important food source for toads, skinks, and other small amphibians and reptiles that rely on the shelter and moisture provided by the leaf litter. One of the many creatures living in the leaf litter habitats of Palawan is the Palawan Sun Skink ( Eutropis sahulinghangganan ), a newly described species of skink endemic to Palawan. The name Eutropis sahulinghangganan derives from the Tagalog "sa huling" or "sa huli ng" (meaning in the last), and "hangganan" (meaning frontier). Palawan Sun Skink     The Palawan Sun Skink inhabits thick coastal forests, mangroves, as well as secondary forests and primary forests up in the mountains. I have seen this skink near the peak of Mount Beaufort at elevations of around 1000 masl, but the population of thi...

Palawan Stream Frog

Palawan Stream Frog Pulchrana moellendorffi photo by Jojo De Peralta
     The Palawan Stream Frog or Culion Frog, Pulchrana moellendorffi (Boettger, 1893) is an endemic species of amphibian currently listed as Least Concern because of its presumed large population and wide distribution in Palawan. However, like most species that always requires forest cover, this endemic amphibian is being threatened by its slowly declining habitat mostly due to agricultural and urban development. It used to be common where it occurs, but their declining numbers in the lowland area is noticeable especially on the eastern side of the mainland where farming is extensive.

Palawan Stream Frog Pulchrana moellendorffi photo by Jojo De Peralta
Palawan Stream Frog
      This species is also known to inhabit disturbed rivers in lowland forests and low intensity agricultural areas. However, the uncontrolled lowland deforestation and the pollution of streams and rivers due to agricultural effluents is slowly pushing this species deeper in the foothills and mountain slopes where the majority is now sharing the same type of habitat with several species of amphibians like the endemic Leptobrachium tagbanorum and Staurois nubilus.

Palawan Stream Frog Pulchrana moellendorffi photo by Jojo De Peralta
Palawan Stream Frog
     The Palawan Stream Frog is well camouflaged in color and finding this species at daytime is usually hard. It hides during the day inside heavy thickets of vegetation growing around rivers and streams or under large rocks and roots on the riverbanks. It can be easily seen at night where it is largely active along the riverside or the forest floor near water. The range of this species includes all major mountain ranges in Palawan and several protected areas usually up to around 600masl. It is said to occur up to 800 masl in Mount Victoria area, but I had no luck yet in finding this species in that elevation.
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