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Siebenrockiella Leytensis (Taylor 1920) – Palawan Forest Turtle, Philippine Forest Turtle

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Siebenrockiella Leytensis (Taylor 1920) – Palawan Forest Turtle, Philippine Forest Turtle Conservation Biology of Freshwater Turtles and Tortoises: A Compilation ProjectGeoemydidae of the IUCN/SSC — Siebenrockiella Tortoise and Freshwater leytensis Turtle Specialist Group 066.1 A.G.J. Rhodin, P.C.H. Pritchard, P.P. van Dijk, R.A. Saumure, K.A. Buhlmann, J.B. Iverson, and R.A. Mittermeier, Eds. Chelonian Research Monographs (ISSN 1088-7105) No. 5, doi:10.3854/crm.5.066.leytensis.v1.2012 © 2012 by Chelonian Research Foundation • Published 29 December 2012 Siebenrockiella leytensis (Taylor 1920) – Palawan Forest Turtle, Philippine Forest Turtle ARVIN C. DIESMOS 1, JA MES R. BUSKIRK 2, Sab INE SC HOPPE 3, MA E LOWE L. DIESMOS 4, EMERSON Y. SY5, A N D RA FE M. BROWN 6 1Herpetology Section, Zoology Division, National Museum of the Philippines, Padre Burgos Avenue, Ermita 1000, Manila, Philippines [[email protected]]; 2San Antonio Neighborhood Health Center, 1030 International Boulevard, Oakland, California 94606 USA [[email protected]]; 3Katala Foundation Inc., P.O. Box 390, Puerto Princesa City 5300, Palawan, Philippines [[email protected]]; 4Department of Biological Sciences, College of Science, University of Santo Tomas, España 1015, Manila, Philippines [[email protected]]; 5Herpetological Society of the Philippines, 1198 Benavidez Street, Unit 1202, Tondo 1003, Manila, Philippines [[email protected]]; 6Natural History Museum, Biodiversity Institute and Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas 66045 USA [[email protected]] SUMM A R Y . – The Palawan Forest Turtle (or Philippine Forest Turtle), Siebenrockiella leytensis (Family Geoemydidae), is one of the most enigmatic species of freshwater turtles in Southeast Asia, and has been surrounded with more confusion and misconception than almost any other turtle in the region. For over 80 years, its true geographic distribution in the Philippines remained a mystery; its apparent rarity and the rudimentary knowledge of its ecology and natural history had bestowed upon it an almost mythical reputation. Long thought to come from the eastern Philippine island of Leyte, it was very recently discovered to actually occur in the Palawan region of the western Philip- pines. The species is the largest and heaviest geoemydid turtle known from the Philippines, attaining a carapace length of more than 300 mm and weighing as much as 3.5 kg. Known clutch size is 1–2, and eggs average 49.6 x 26.5 mm in size and weigh 18–30 g. As predicted by previous workers, the recent discovery of a natural population of S. leytensis on Palawan has already spurred a collect- ing frenzy among wildlife trappers and traders to supply domestic and international markets for the illegal wildlife trade. In spite of its official protected status in local and international listings, the illegal trade in S. leytensis is rampant and is perceived currently as the greatest threat to the species. This threat is exacerbated by the continuing destruction of the lowland forests of Palawan, the primary habitat of the species. If the current trend of overexploitation continues, it is certain that several subpopulations of S. leytensis will soon collapse. In the face of these threats, wildlife authorities on Palawan must immediately enforce relevant laws and encourage greater coordination among appropriate government agencies that typically work in isolation. Conservation programs need to prioritize efforts that will curb illegal collection of S. leytensis and other threatened species and monitor known populations. Top priority research studies for S. leytensis include population biology, ecology, and in-depth investigation of the dynamics of illegal trade in the species. DISTRI B UTION . – Philippines. The species appears to be restricted to the northern half of the island group of Palawan in western Philippines. It does not occur at the erroneous original type locality of Leyte Island in eastern Philippines. SY NON Y M Y . – Heosemys leytensis Taylor 1920, Geoemyda leytensis, Siebenrockiella leytensis, Siebenrockiella (Panyaenemys) leytensis, Panyaenemys leytensis. SU B SPE C IES . – None. ST A TUS . – IUCN 2012 Red List: Critically Endangered (CR A2d, B1+2c) (assessed 2000); TFTSG Draft Red List: Critically Endangered; CITES: Appendix II; Philippines: Republic Act 9147 (Wildlife Resources Conservation and Protection Act). Taxonomy. — Heosemys leytensis was described 1920). He placed the species in the genus Heosemys based by Edward H. Taylor in 1920 based on two unnumbered primarily on the absence of a temporal arch (Taylor 1920). specimens that were retrieved from a zoological labora- Among the additional characters that established its affinity tory in the University of the Philippines, Manila (Taylor with the genus Heosemys were the broad bridge between 066.2 Conservation Biology of Freshwater Turtles and Tortoises • Chelonian Research Monographs, No. 5 Figure 1. Adult male Siebenrockiella leytensis in its primary habitat on Palawan, the lowland riparian forests from the northern region of the island. These lowland habitats are imperiled because of slash-and-burn farming, timber poaching, charcoal making, and the impacts of mining and quarrying. Photo by Rafe Brown. the plastron and carapace, the entoplastron intersected by Heosemys leytensis was not included in their phylogenetic the humeropectoral suture, the lack of quadratojugal bones, analyses due to lack of genetic samples. Following the recent and the rudimentary scalation of the head (Buskirk 1989; rediscovery of the species (Diesmos et al. 2004), morphologi- Ernst and Barbour 1989; Ernst et al. 2000). Wermuth and cal study and molecular phylogenetic analysis demonstrated Mertens (1961) suppressed Heosemys and allocated most that leytensis is the sister lineage to the previously monotypic of its member species to Geoemyda, a placement that was Sundaic turtle genus Siebenrockiella (Diesmos et al. 2005). rejected by McDowell (1964), citing the distinctive skull Thus, S. leytensis is the sister species to S. crassicollis, a anatomy of turtles within the group (see also Ernst and species that occurs from Peninsular Malaysia to Borneo Barbour 1989). Nonetheless, some authors subsequently (Ernst et al. 2000). Nonetheless, there is high genetic diver- considered leytensis as a species of Geoemyda (review in gence (ca.13% cytb) between S. leytensis and S. crassicol- Iverson 1992). McCord et al. (2000) proposed that leytensis, along with the Indian species silvatica, remain in Heosemys until more robust information on the systematics of these taxa indicated otherwise. Spinks et al. (2004), in a phylogenetic study of turtles of the family Geoemydidae, demonstrated the potential non- monophyly of Heosemys, but declined to make taxonomic conclusions pending further phylogenetic investigations. Figure 2. Subadult Siebenrockiella leytensis. Photo by Emerson Sy. Figure 3. Adult Siebenrockiella leytensis. Photo by Sabine Schoppe. Geoemydidae — Siebenrockiella leytensis 066.3 lor’s decades of pioneering work in Philippine herpetology (Diesmos and Brown 2011), Taylor amassed a sizeable herpetological collection, most of which is now housed at the California Academy of Sciences (CAS), Field Museum of Natural History (FMNH), Museum of Comparative Zo- ology (Harvard University), and Carnegie Museum. The herpetological collection databases of CAS (http://research. calacademy.org/herp/collections) and FMNH (http://fm1. fieldmuseum.org/collections) reveal that Lopez collected amphibians and reptiles from the northern regions of Pala- wan Island and from the islands of Coron and Busuanga in the Calamian group, north of Palawan (see also Taylor 1922a, 1922b, 1923, 1925; Buskirk 1989). It is therefore a logical assumption that the types of S. leytensis most likely originated from northern Palawan or the Calamian group of islands. But since up to now S. leytensis has only been confirmed to occur in northern Palawan, we hereby restrict the type locality of S. leytensis to “northern Palawan in the Province of Palawan, Philippines.” Description. — The Palawan Forest Turtle is the largest and the heaviest geoemydid turtle known from the Philip- Figure 4. Distribution of Siebenrockiella leytensis in the Palawan Island group in the Philippines. Red dots = museum and literature occurrence records of native populations based on Iverson (1992), plus more recent and authors’ data; gray dot = erroneous original type locality on Leyte Island; green shading = projected native distribution based on GIS-defined hydrologic unit compartments (HUCs) constructed around verified localities and then adding HUCs that connect known point localities in the same watershed or physiographic region, and similar habitats and elevations as verified HUCs (Buhlmann et al. 2009), and adjusted based on authors’ data. lis, prompting Diesmos et al. (2005) to erect the subgenus Panyaenemys (etymology: panya-en, “enchanted” and emys, “turtle”) to accommodate the distinct Philippine lineage (see also Philippen 2006; Vetter and van Dijk 2006). Restriction of Type Locality. — The historical record of Figure 5. Hatchling Siebenrockiella leytensis. Photo by Emerson Sy. S. leytensis from the island of Leyte in east central Philip- pines (“Cabalian, southern Leyte”; fide Taylor 1920)—long designated as the type locality—is erroneous and resulted from a mislabeling of the type specimens (Diesmos et al. 2008). In accordance with the provisions of Article 76 of the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN 1999), we consider it advisable to correct the error at
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