Skip to main content

Latest Post

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

Nepenthes deaniana

 
Palawan pitcher plant Nepenthes deaniana photo by Jojo De Peralta

  
   Nepenthes deaniana is another interesting pitcher plant endemic to Palawan. It was first discovered growing in a mossy forest around 1200 meters above sea level on the eastern side of Thumb Peak, an ultramafic mountain peak in Puerto Princesa. Our recent explorations around the region showed that it's also growing at Mount Beaufort, Mount Stavely, and other lesser peaks of Stavely Range and Pulgar Range.

Palawan pitcher plant Nepenthes deaniana flower photo by Jojo De Peralta
Nepenthes deaniana flower

Palawan pitcher plant Nepenthes deaniana photo by Jojo De Peralta
Nepenthes deaniana


   This Nepenthes deaniana was found and photographed six years ago (August 2016) when trail breaking on the ridge of Stavely Range. It was the first time that we saw this species outside the Thumb Peak area. We saw Nepenthes philippinensis on the way up and were surprised to find big pitchers in the mossy forest. At first, we thought it was Nepenthes mira because it looks similar to the pitchers that we have seen in Cleopatra's Needle, but it turned out to be Nepenthes deaniana.

Palawan pitcher plant Nepenthes deaniana habitat photo by Jojo De Peralta
Nepenthes deaniana habitat


   This photo of Nepenthes deaniana habitat was taken five years ago (March 2017) in Pulgar Range when we first summited Thump Peak from the west side.  The mossy forest of Pulgar Range is good, and Nepenthes deaniana thrives well in this area.  We found a lot growing on the mossy forest from Thumb Peak to the westernmost peak of Pulgar Range.

Palawan pitcher plant Nepenthes deaniana photo by Jojo De Peralta
Nepenthes deaniana


   The summit of Mount Beaufort is a little less than 1100 masl, and the mossy forest seems less humid than in Pulgar and Stavely Range. It is not a good site for Nepenthes deaniana, we only found a few plants after several hours of looking in the mossy forest. I took this photo near the summit of Mount Beaufort during our hiking trip in May 2017.

Palawan pitcher plant Nepenthes deaniana photo by Jojo De Peralta


   We found this pitcher plant well inside the Nepenthes deaniana's habitat. All the pitchers are green, even the old ones, and the leaves are about the same length but narrow. Possibly the same species, it just looks different because of its location. This one was found growing in a part of the mossy forest where there are a lot of tall mossy trees and less sunlight. I was told that N. deaniana does not climb,  but as you can see in the photo, this one is climbing.

Palawan pitcher plant Nepenthes deaniana photo by Jojo De Peralta
Nepenthes deaniana


   Nepenthes deaniana growing in the mossy forest of Mount Stavely. This photo was taken during our exploration last December 2020. The peak of Mount Stavely is almost as high as Thumb Peak,  but the ridge and the peak are too rocky and narrow. We started seeing pitchers around 1050 masl, but they were not healthy because they were growing between the rocks and too exposed to the sun. There's only one good spot for Nepenthes deaniana in Mount Stavely that we know so far,  the mossy forest on the left side of the ridge close to the peak. You have to go down three meters from the side of the ridge before you could get to them. A large part of this region remains unexplored, and there may be more sites around this location where this species thrives.
Labels:

Popular posts from this blog

Palawan Spitting Cobra

      The Palawan Spitting Cobra (Naja sumatrana miolepis) is a spitting cobra that can be found in Palawan. This species is a medium sized, ground dwelling venomous snake. The scales are smooth and unlike some of the most beautiful cobras in Asia, this species has no impressive hood marks. The head is elliptical and depressed, the eyes are medium in size with round pupils, the snout is rounded and the nostrils are large. Juveniles tend to be of different colour than the adult. They can grow up to around 1.5 meters, but spitting cobras over a meter in length are seldom seen and photographed in Palawan . Palawan Spitting Cobra hood mark       It can be seen resting during the day under heavy thickets of grass, stacks of woods and cavities under rocks or soil. Abandoned mice dens are favorite hideouts in grasslands, farms and rice fields. Although it usually hunts for food at night, this species can be seen moving around on the forest floor at sporadic times during the day. Locals a
Read more

Two-lined Coral Snake

     The Two-lined Coral Snake ( Calliophis bilineatus ) is a small, brightly colored venomous snake of the family Elapidae. It is endemic to Palawan and several of its smaller islands adjacent to mainland. This snake occurs on a wide range of elevation from second growth forest in sea level to mossy forests high up in the mountains where it is largely active during the day. I have been doing night spotting and photography for many years, but I have not seen one during nighttime. This snake spend most of its time burrowed underground, under stacks of woods and leaf piles or cavities under rocks. It has a unique defense behavior compared to other venomous snakes in Palawan. It usually flees when threatened, but when cornered, it will flip on its back and play dead. Other technique to fool attackers is by hiding its head while raising and flicking its red tails. The predator usually finds the colorful moving tail an irresistible target and would go for it, leaving the true
Read more

Nepenthes philippinensis

     A Pitcher plant is a carnivorous plant which have a modified prey-trapping leaves that features a deep cavity filled with digestive liquid. There are several endemic tropical pitcher plants growing in Palawan, the most common is the Nepenthes philippinensis .        This species has long, scrambling vines and are often climbers, accessing the canopy of their habitats using tendrils that stretches out and twines around any suitable support. It produces more pitchers and flowers on a single plant compared to all known species of nepenthes in Palawan. There are several color variants, but the lower pitchers are usually reddish and the upper pitchers or traps are green or yellowish.        This lowland species is widespread in Palawan and can be found thriving in soils with low nutrient availability and high concentrations of heavy metals like nickel and chromium. Like all carnivorous plants, this pitcher plant can grow in locations where the soil is too poor in mine
Read more

Schultz’s Pit Viper - A spectacular venomous snake endemic to Palawan

     I have heard it said that Palawan has more snakes in the wild than anywhere else in the country. Maybe true, but there are species of snakes commonly seen in other places that are scarce in Palawan rainforest. We have enough vipers in the wild though.  Trimeresurus schultzei Griffin 1909 commonly known as the Schultz’s Pit Viper is one of the most spectacular snakes that can be found here. This snake is endemic to Palawan and its surrounding small islands. Schultz’s Pit Viper       The Schultz’s Pit Viper is primarily arboreal species. They’re capable, but rarely navigate and hunt on the ground. They’re slow and less camouflaged on the ground and therefore more vulnerable on the forest floor. Using its prehensile tail to hold onto branches , it prefers to perch on trees where its green color acts as camouflage while waiting for prey. It is an ambush hunting snake relying on its camouflage to catch food. The heat-sensing loreal pits are used to locate warm-bl
Read more

Banded Keel-throated Pitviper

    The Banded Keel-throated Pitviper Tropidolaemus subannulatus (Gray, 1842) is said to be the most common pit viper in the Philippines. This venomous pit viper species is also native to Indonesia, Malaysia, and Brunei. Like the Schultz’s Pit Viper , this species is primarily arboreal and an ambush-hunting venomous snake. It is active at night, but also seen moving around during the day, especially in the rainy season. Banded Keel-throated Pitviper     The Banded Keel-throated Pitviper and the Shultz’s Pit Viper are both spectacular venomous pit viper that can be found in Palawan. They can be told apart from the shape of the head and the scales on the head. The scales of the head and chin of Banded Keel-throated Pitviper are strongly keeled, a closer look will show that the second upper labial is separated from the scale forming anterior border of facial pit. Shultz’s Pit Viper head and scales however looks smoother and the second upper labial is fused to the scale bordering the se
Read more

Palawan Mangrove Snake

    The Boiga dendrophila multicincta (Boulenger, 1896) is a large colubrid snake endemic to Palawan. It prefers humid habitats and always seen in woody areas close to bodies of water. This snake primarily occurs in lowland forests, mostly mangrove and riverine habitats, but is also found near mountain streams in the foothills up to old growth forest above 1000 masl. It is commonly seen resting on tree branches overhanging on bodies of water during the day and on the ground hunting for food at night. With its long body, this snake can move swiftly on trees and is also an adept swimmer. It is known to prey on birds and other small arboreal animals, but it seems to spend more time hunting on the ground where food is abundant. Palawan Mangrove Snake     The Palawan Mangrove Snake, also called Palawan Yellow-ringed Cat Snake is mildly venomous. But despite being considered not life-threatening to humans, locals fear this snake for its unpredictable and irritable behavior. They look
Read more