Abstract
We present results from several recent herpetological surveys in the Romblon Island Group (RIG), Romblon Province, central Philippines. Together with a summary of historical museum records, our data document the occurrence of 55 species of amphibians and reptiles in this small island group. Until the present effort, and despite past studies, herpetological diversity of the RIG and their biogeographical affinities has remained poorly understood. We report on observations of evolutionarily distinct amphibian species, including conspicuous, previously known, endemics like the forest frogs Platymantis lawtoni and P. levigatus and two additional suspected undescribed species of Platymantis. Moderate levels of reptile endemism prevail on these islands, including taxa like the karst forest gecko species Gekko romblon and the newly discovered species G. coi. Although relatively small and less diverse than the surrounding landmasses, the islands of Romblon Province contain remarkable levels of endemism when considered as percentage of the total fauna or per unit landmass area.
Highlights
The Romblon Island Group (RIG) is a small assemblage of islands located in the central Philippines between three major faunal regions (Luzon, Mindoro, and Visayan Pleistocene Aggregate Island Complexes (PAICs; Brown and Diesmos 2002; 2009; Figure 1)
We provide the first comprehensive report on the amphibian and reptile records for Romblon Province and we discuss the biogeographical affinities of the taxa from the surrounding regions of the archipelago
Catalog numbers correspond to voucher specimens deposited at the University of Kansas Natural History Museum and Biodiversity Institute (KU), the U.S National Museum of Natural History (USNM), Harvard University’s Museum of Comparative Zooology (MCZ), the National Museum of the Philippines (PNM), the Field Museum of Natural History (FMNH), and the California Academy of Sciences (CAS) are included below
Summary
The Romblon Island Group (RIG) is a small assemblage of islands located in the central Philippines between three major faunal regions (Luzon, Mindoro, and Visayan Pleistocene Aggregate Island Complexes (PAICs; Brown and Diesmos 2002; 2009; Figure 1). We collected individuals of this species on Tablas, Sibuyan, and Romblon islands, all representing new records for these islands. The single specimen collected represents a new island record for Tablas, as well as the first observation of Rhacophorus pardalis in Romblon Province.
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