REPTILES OF SULU ARCHIPELAGO 



By Edward H. Taylor 



(From the Section of Ichthyology, Biological Laboratory, Burecuu, of Science, 



Manila) 



THREE PLATES AND ELEVEN TEXT FIGURES 



While on a fisheries exploration in Sulu Archipelago small 

 collections of reptiles were made on several of the islands visited. 

 As zoological collecting was only of secondary consideration on 

 the trip, the attention that such collecting merited was not given 

 to it. However, some specimens taken are new and are of much 

 interest and importance. The knoMoi limits of distribution of 

 several Philippine species were extended and many rare species 

 and three species heretofore unknown to the Philippine fauna 

 were found. The following species are described as new: 



1. Luperosaurus joloensis. 4. Sphenomorphus biparietalis. 



2. Hemiphyllodactylus insularis. 5. Brachymeles suluenais. 



3. Lepidodactylus divergent. 6. Brachymeles vermis. 



The following species are here recorded for the first time from 

 the Philippine Islands: 



1. Mabuya rudis Boulenger. 3. Lepidodactylus woodfordi Boulenger. 



2. Riopa bowringi Giinther. 



Of the forty-seven species here listed, four are known only 

 from Mindanao and northern Philippine Islands ; forty-three are 

 found in the Sulu Archipelago and in Basilan. Of this number 

 nineteen are common to Mindanao, Sulu, and Borneo ; eight 

 species are common to Mindanao and Sulu only ; six are common 

 to Borneo and Sulu, but are not knoMoi to occur in Mindanao; 

 seven species are known only from Sulu; two are common to 

 Sulu and other northern Philippine Islands, but as yet are not 

 knovvTi from Mindanao; and one is common to Sulu and New 

 Guinea. This tells but little regarding actual faunal relation- 

 ships, as Mindanao, Borneo, and Sulu Archipelago have been 

 but little explored zoologically. Unfortunately very few speci- 

 mens were taken or observed on the Sibutu Group of islands, 

 which is the group nearest the Borneo coast. The collection 

 made on the Borneo coast also was a very small one, reptiles, 

 especially snakes, being rather rare. A planter living at Tunku 

 Point told me he had seen only a single snake in two years' 

 residence on his plantation. 



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