Mount Pangasugan is a

mountain A mountain is an elevated portion of the Earth's crust, generally with steep sides that show significant exposed bedrock. Although definitions vary, a mountain may differ from a plateau in having a limited Summit (topography), summit area, and ...

in the province of

Leyte Leyte ( ) is an island in the Visayas group of islands in the Philippines. It is eighth-largest and sixth-most populous island in the Philippines, with a total population of 2,626,970 as of 2020 census. Since the accessibility of land has be ...

in the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

. It is approximately tall,PHILIPPINE MOUNTAINS AND PEAKS IN THE VISAYAS
Singarong Backpackers. and located to the north of the city of

Baybay Baybay (IPA: aɪ'baɪ, officially the City of Baybay ( ceb, Dakbayan sa Baybay; war, Syudad han Baybay), is a 1st class component city in the province of Leyte, Philippines. It has a population of 111,848 people. With an area of , it is the s ...

. The mountain is densely vegetated, very steep, and home to a remarkable number of plant and animal species. It has been called "the last forest frontier in

Eastern Visayas Eastern Visayas ( war, Sinirangan Kabisay-an; ceb, Sidlakang Kabisay-an; tl, Silangang Kabisayaan or ''Silangang Visayas'') is an administrative region in the Philippines, designated as Region VIII. It consists of three main islands, Samar, ...

." Mt. Pangasugan Ecopark is situated in the virgin

rain forest Rainforests are characterized by a closed and continuous tree canopy, moisture-dependent vegetation, the presence of epiphytes and lianas and the absence of wildfire. Rainforest can be classified as tropical rainforest or temperate rainforest ...

of the mountain.

Ecological diversity

A study by Visayas State University (VSU) in Baybay City, Leyte found many animal species listed by the

World Conservation Union The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natu ...

in the Red List of Threatened Animals (

IUCN Red List The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data Book, founded in 1964, is the world's most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of biol ...

), including the

Philippine tarsier The Philippine tarsier (''Carlito syrichta''), known locally as ''mawumag'' in Cebuano and other Visayan languages, and ''magô'' in Waray, is a species of tarsier endemic to the Philippines. It is found in the southeastern part of the archip ...

, Philippine flying fox, Fischer's pygmy fruit bat. New records of the

microbat Microbats constitute the suborder Microchiroptera within the order Chiroptera (bats). Bats have long been differentiated into Megachiroptera (megabats) and Microchiroptera, based on their size, the use of echolocation by the Microchiroptera a ...

(''

Hipposideros obscurus The Philippine forest roundleaf bat (''Hipposideros obscurus'') is a species of bat in the family Hipposideridae. It is endemic to the Philippines. Taxonomy and etymology It was described as a new species in 1861 by German naturalist Wilhelm Pe ...

''), with a length of 5.5 centimeters and body weight of 10 grams, a type of

skink Skinks are lizards belonging to the family Scincidae, a family in the infraorder Scincomorpha. With more than 1,500 described species across 100 different taxonomic genera, the family Scincidae is one of the most diverse families of lizards. Ski ...

(''

Tropidophorus grayi ''Tropidophorus grayi'', commonly called the spiny waterside skink or Gray's keeled skink, is a relatively common but secretive skink species, a lizard in the family Scincidae. The species is endemic to the Philippines. Habitat ''T. grayi'' l ...

''), and two new species of the

Gobiidae Gobiidae or gobies is a family of bony fish in the order Gobiiformes, one of the largest fish families comprising more than 2,000 species in more than 200 genera. Most of gobiid fish are relatively small, typically less than in length, and the ...

fishes (''

Stiphodon olivaceus ''Stiphodon'' is a genus of freshwater gobies. They inhabit swift, clear streams close to the sea and are found in large parts of Asia and Oceania. Many of the 36 currently recognized species have extremely restricted distributions on single isla ...

'' and ''

Stiphodon surrufus ''Stiphodon surrufus'' is a species of goby endemic to the Philippines where it is only known to occur in Lagu Lagu creek on Leyte Island Leyte ( ) is an island in the Visayas group of islands in the Philippines. It is eighth-largest and si ...

'') were also found by the VSU survey. VSU's Natural History

Museum A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make these ...

collected 43,000

arthropod Arthropods (, (gen. ποδός)) are invertebrate animals with an exoskeleton, a Segmentation (biology), segmented body, and paired jointed appendages. Arthropods form the phylum Arthropoda. They are distinguished by their jointed limbs and Arth ...

specimens from 377

families Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Ideall ...

and 500

genera Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nomenclat ...

on Mt. Pangasugan. A new species of

orchid Orchids are plants that belong to the family Orchidaceae (), a diverse and widespread group of flowering plants with blooms that are often colourful and fragrant. Along with the Asteraceae, they are one of the two largest families of flowering ...

('' Dendrobium milaniae'') and a

tiger beetle Tiger beetles are a family of beetles, Cicindelidae, known for their aggressive predatory habits and running speed. The fastest known species of tiger beetle, ''Rivacindela hudsoni'', can run at a speed of , or about 125 body lengths per second. ...

('' Thopeutica milaniae'') were named in honor of incumbent VSU president Dr. Paciencia Po-Milan, a renowned

ecologist Ecology () is the study of the relationships between living organisms, including humans, and their physical environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community, ecosystem, and biosphere level. Ecology overlaps wi ...

. Other endemic species include the

eagle-owl The American (North and South America) horned owls and the Old World eagle-owls make up the genus ''Bubo'', at least as traditionally described. The genus name ''Bubo'' is Latin for the Eurasian eagle-owl. This genus contains 19 species that ar ...

Philippine hawk-eagle The Philippine hawk-eagle or north Philippine hawk-eagle (''Nisaetus philippensis''), earlier treated under ''Spizaetus'', is a species of bird of prey in the family Accipitridae. Many taxonomists consider the Pinsker's hawk-eagle, a former subsp ...

rufous-lored kingfisher Winchell's kingfisher (''Todiramphus winchelli'') or the rufous-lored kingfisher, is a species of bird in the family Alcedinidae, the kingfishers. It is endemic to the Philippines, its natural habitat being lowland forests. It is threatened by ...

Philippine leafbird The Philippine leafbird (''Chloropsis flavipennis'') is a species of bird in the family Chloropseidae. It is endemic to the Philippines. It is found in the islands of Mindanao, Leyte, and Cebu. Its natural habitat is tropical moist lowland fore ...

and miniature tit-babbler and

flying lemur Colugos () are arboreal gliding mammals that are native to Southeast Asia. Their closest evolutionary relatives are primates. There are just two living species of colugos: the Sunda flying lemur (''Galeopterus variegatus'') and the Philippine f ...

. The Federal Republic of Germany (through the ViSCA-GTZ Applied Tropical EcologyProgranl, ViSCA, Baybay, Leyte, Philippines International) funded the VSU study to collect, identify, describe and document the existing species of aroids (

Araceae The Araceae are a family of monocotyledonous flowering plants in which flowers are borne on a type of inflorescence called a spadix. The spadix is usually accompanied by, and sometimes partially enclosed in, a spathe (or leaf-like bract). Also ...

) and

orchids Orchids are plants that belong to the family Orchidaceae (), a diverse and widespread group of flowering plants with blooms that are often colourful and fragrant. Along with the Asteraceae, they are one of the two largest families of flowering ...

in Mt. Pangasugan. 25 species of aroids representing 12

were documented at elevations of up to 350 m

ASL American Sign Language (ASL) is a natural language that serves as the predominant sign language of Deaf communities in the United States of America and most of Anglophone Canada. ASL is a complete and organized visual language that is express ...

. Classified as erect ground dwellers or climbers, the most dominant aroid belong to '' Pothos'' and ''

Epipremnum ''Epipremnum'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Araceae, found in tropical forests from China, the Himalayas, and Southeast Asia to Australia the western Pacific. They are evergreen perennial vines climbing with the aid of aerial r ...

''. The orchid species represent 16 genera, with the most dominant belonging to ''

Phalaenopsis ''Phalaenopsis'' (), also known as moth orchids, is a genus of about seventy species of plants in the family Orchidaceae. Orchids in this genus are monopodial epiphytes or lithophytes with long, coarse roots, short, leafy stems and long-lasting ...

''. The Herpetofauna ( herps) of Anibong, Jordan, Mt. Pangasugan Range, Leyte is a

habitat In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...

to endemic species, which is so diverse and slightly distributed. The

Mindanao State University Mindanao State University, commonly referred to as MSU Main, is a regional state, coeducational, research higher education institution in the city of Marawi, Philippines. Founded in 1961, it is the flagship and the largest campus of the Mindana ...

-Iligan Institute of Technology identified 17 herpetofaunal species belonging to 6 families ( Ranidae,

Rhacophoridae The Rhacophoridae are a family of frogs that occur in tropical sub-Saharan Africa, South India and Sri Lanka, Japan, northeastern India to eastern China and Taiwan, south through the Philippines and Greater Sundas, and Sulawesi. They are commonly ...

Agamidae Agamidae is a family (biology), family of over 300 species of iguanian lizards indigenous to Africa, Asia, Australia, and a few in Southern Europe. Many species are commonly called dragons or dragon lizards. Overview phylogenetics, Phylogenetic ...

, Scincidae,

Colubridae Colubridae (, commonly known as colubrids , from la, coluber, 'snake') is a family of snakes. With 249 genera, it is the largest snake family. The earliest species of the family date back to the Oligocene epoch. Colubrid snakes are found on ever ...

Viperidae The Viperidae (vipers) are a family of snakes found in most parts of the world, except for Antarctica, Australia, Hawaii, Madagascar, and various other isolated islands. They are venomous and have long (relative to non-vipers), hinged fangs tha ...

), of which eight (47%) are endemics (

Endemism Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

). These endemic species include '' Limnonectes magnus'', ''

Platymantis corrugatus ''Platymantis corrugatus'' (Philippine wrinkled ground frog or rough-back forest frog) is a species of frog in the family Ceratobatrachidae. It is endemic to the Philippines, where it is found throughout the archipelago except Palawan. Its natura ...

'', ''

Platymantis dorsalis ''Platymantis dorsalis'' (Dumeril's wrinkled ground frog or common forest frog) is a species of frog in the family Ceratobatrachidae. It is endemic to the northern and central Philippines. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lo ...

'', ''

Brachymeles samarensis ''Brachymeles samarensis'', Brown's short-legged skink, is a species of skink endemic to the Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * ...

'', ''

Draco lineatus ''Draco lineatus'', the lined flying dragon, is a species of agamid lizard. It is found in Indonesia, the Philippines, and Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists o ...

'', '' Sphenomorphus jagori'', '' Rhabdophis lineata'' and ''

Trimeresurus flavomaculatus ''Trimeresurus flavomaculatus'' (Philippine pit viper)Gumprecht A, Tillack F, :fr:Nikolaï Orlov, Orlov NL, Ashok Captain, Captain A, Ryabov S. 2004. ''Asian Pit vipers''. GeitjeBooks. Berlin. 1st Edition. 368 pp. . is a venomous snake, venomous ...

''. '' Limnonectes magnus'' is already in the near-threatened category.

Notes

References

* Milan, et al. 1993. "Arthropod Abundance and Diversity in Ecosystems of Mt. Pangasugan, Baybay Leyte with Special Reference to the Coleoptera and Hymenoptera Fauna". PLITS 1995/13(3) * Lawrence R. Heaney et al. 1989. "Elevational Zonation of Mammals in the Central Philippines". Journal of Tropical Ecology * Langenberger, G. & Belonias, B. (submitted): The status of floristic analysis of Mt. Pangasugan, Leyte, Philippines – a conservation priority area classified as "extremely high critical". submitted for publication in the ‘Flora Malesiana Symposium Proceedings’ (Los Baños, Philippines, 2004) * Langenberger, G. (2000): Forest Vegetation Studies on the foothills of Mt. Pangasugan, Leyte, The Philippines. TÖB-Publication F-II/10e. German agency for technical cooperation (GTZ) GmbH, P.O. Box 5180, 65726 Eschborn, Germany.
Ethnobotanical Survey among Farmers in Leyte, Philippines, and Comparison with Indigenous Filipino Plant Lore
{{Authority control Pangasugan Landforms of Leyte (province)