The Philippines archipelago
contains more than 7,100 islands and includes 17 active volcanoes that covers
0.29 million km² in the western Pacific. The archipelago was formed from
isolated fragments of continents and islands, some dating back to 30-50 million
years ago. Its flora and fauna contain elements from Taiwan, Palawan, and
Borneo and show strong affinities with the Sunda Shelf fauna. But the
Philippines have a huge endemic fauna, species that are found nowhere else.
Historically most of the islands were covered in rain forest, dominated by huge
trees of the family Dipterocarpaceae. At higher elevations, montane forests and
mossy forests consist mostly of smaller trees; and some areas of the islands
contain seasonal forest, mixed forest, savanna, and pine-dominated cloud
forest. Thus it is not surprising that the Philippines contain an exceptionally
diverse fauna with many still undescribed plants and animals. Luke Welton and
colleagues have recently described a new species of giant (2 m), secretive,
frugivorous, forest monitor lizard, Varanus
bitatawa from the northern Philippines on the island of
Luzon. Morphology and DNA data suggest the new species is closely related to Varanus olivaceus, known from southern
Luzon and nearby islands. The new species appears to be restricted to forests
of the central and northern Sierra Madre mountain range, separating from the
range of V. olivaceus by more than
150 km. The name bitatawa is derived
from the Agta tribal peoples’ common name for the lizard. The discovery of new large
animals is useful for the conservation of the areas they in habitat because it
draws attention to biodiversity hot spots and engenders public and political
support for protecting biodiversity.
Luke J. Welton,
Cameron D. Siler, Daniel Bennett, Avin Diesmos, M. Roy Duya, Roldan Dugay,
Edmund Leo B. Rico, Merlijn Van Weerd, and Rafe M. Brown. 2010. A spectacular
new Philippine monitor lizard reveals a hidden biogeographic boundary and a
novel flagship species for conservation Biology
Letters 2010 6:654-658.