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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...

Common Mock Viper

Common Mock Viper Psammodynastes pulverulentus pulverulentus photo by Jojo De Peralta in Palawan
     Psammodynastes pulverulentus pulverulentus (Boie, 1827) or the Common Mock Viper is another interesting species of snake that can be found in Palawan. A mock viper is a small, terrestrial snake belonging to the Colubridae family and is known all over Southeast Asia. It is found in a wide range of elevations in Palawan from lowland second growth forest to mountain slopes and ridges where it is active during night and day. It prefers the ground rather than trees and can oftentimes be seen near streams and rivers where it hunts for small lizards and frogs. This species is ovoviparous, the embryos develop inside the eggs which remain inside the mother where they hatch.

Common Mock Viper Psammodynastes pulverulentus pulverulentus photo by Jojo De Peralta in Palawan
Common Mock Viper
    The mock viper got its common name from morphologically similar Malayan pit vipers, a member of the Viperidae renowned for their potent venom. Protective mimicry is common among herps and there are harmless species that have evolved to fool predators by mimicking inedible, poisonous or venomous species. The Common Mock Viper has the triangular head and cryptic color pattern similar to Malayan Pit Viper and when threatened, this species either attempt to flee or will become immobile and will adapt a pit viper like defensive coils. Mock vipers are only mildly venomous and are potentially harmless to humans and predators larger than themselves. It is said that their first line of defense are camouflage and their likely physical resemblance to vipers.
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