A TAXONOMIC REVISION OF THE FLYING LIZARDS (IGUANIA: AGAMIDAE: DRACO) OF THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS, WITH A DESCRIPTION OF A NEW SPECIES

Abstract

Ten species of Draco are recognized in the Philippines including one described as new. For each species, a diagnosis, description of squamation and color pattern, and summaries of distribution and natural history are provided. Keys to the Draco of the Philippines are also provided. The geographic distributions of Philippine Draco species are largely concordant with aggregate island complexes formed when sea levels were lower in the late Pleistocene. The biogeography of Palawan Island is considered in the context of Draco and found to be inconsistent with the standard model treating Palawan as an extension of the Greater Sunda Shelf. Southeast Asia are small to moderate-sized arboreal lizards that are remarkable in their ability to glide long distances using wing-like patagial membranes supported by elongate thoracic ribs. The taxonomy of the genus has had a chaotic history but benefited greatly from the recent revisions by Inger (1983) and Musters (1983). The taxonomies provided by both authors were rather conservative, and this approach was quite successful with the Draco assem- blages of the Sunda Shelf (i.e., the Malay peninsula, Borneo, Sumatra, Java, Bali, and associated islands) where as many as six species can be found in sympatry at many localities (Inger, 1983; personal ob- servation). Unfortunately, these conserva- tive taxonomic views have obscured the presence of an entirely endemic and spe- cies-rich assemblage of Draco species in the Philippine archipelago. Taylor (1922) recognized 11 species of Draco in the Phil- ippines, although he questioned the pres- ence of D. reticulatus and D. cornutus, and came to no conclusions regarding the status of D. guentheri. Although Taylor had seen most of the Philippine species of Draco in life, later workers with little or