16 , 
Taylor: Philippine Turtles 
131 
Heosemys leytensis sp. nov. Plate 1, figs. 3 and 4; Plate 3, fig. 1. 
Type. — An unnumbered specimen in the zoological laboratory. 
University of the Philippines; collected at Cabalian, southern 
Le 3 d;e, P. L, by Gregorio Lopez. 
Description of type. — Adult male. Head large, anterior part 
covered with smooth undivided skin; skin on posterior part of 
head and in temporal region divided into scalelike elements; 
snout bluntly pointed, nostrils anterior, separated by a distance 
equal to or greater than diameter of a single nostril ; eye rather 
small, slit diagonally, diameter of orbit distinctly less than length 
of snout; upper jaw with a distinct hook, slightly bicuspid; trit- 
urating surface of upper jaw narrow, with an indistinct short 
ridge or keel near inner edge ; choanse between eyes ; ear slightly 
farther from eye than eye from end of snout; carapace smooth 
above, rather flattened, with no trace of a keel ; vertebral shields 
all wider than long (fifth anomalous and very irregular and 
broken, forming an extra costal between it and fourth costal on 
left side) ; costals four on each side normally, much broader than 
long, much broader than vertebrals; eleven marginals on each 
side ; nuchal triangular, broadest posteriorly ; anterior marginals 
touching nuchal, extending far anterior to nuchal and about 
five times as large as nuchal; supracauHal plates not or but 
slightly notched, partially fused ; anterior part of carapace deeply 
notched and serrate ; laterally smooth, rounded ; posteriorly mod- 
erately serrate; plastron narrower, very much smaller than 
opening of shell, not as long as carapace and not extending as 
far anteriorly, narrowed in front; plastron joined to carapace 
by strong bony suture; no intercalary shields; a small axillary 
and an inguinal shield; narrowest part of bridge contained in 
total length of plastron a little more than two and one-half times ; 
gular shields quadrilateral, outer sides parallel for a distance 
equal to about half the length of shield; a large angular notch 
between gular shields and another between gulars and humerals ; 
mutual suture of gulars longer than that of humerals, the latter 
somewhat less than suture between pectorals ; abdominal shields 
large, not as broad as pectorals, their mutual suture longer than 
pectoral or femoral ; a deep, more or less semicircular notch be- 
tween anal shields, suture between anals abnonnal ; foreleg with 
transversely somewhat enlarged irregular scales ; four prominent 
scales on upper edge of arm, the two median much the largest; 
a large transverse scale on heel of forefoot and a few small scales 
on back part of scale ; five digits, each with a strong curved claw, 
digits fully webbed, foot cushionlike ; one or two small scales at 
