About
The Palawan Eastern frog is known only from Mount Balabag, in the Mantalingajan mountain range, on the island of Palawan and a range of just 788 km²!
The Alcalus genus from the family Ceratobatrachidae diverged from other genus in this family between 45-75 million years ago.
Surveys in 2002 and 2007 found the Palawan Eastern frog to be abundant at elevations 500-900 above sea level but threats to the habitat use of lowland and montane rainforest to agriculture and expanding human settlements the population is suspected to be decreasing.
Whilst the Palawan Eastern frog does not occur in any official protected areas the Mantalingajan mountain range is well protected. The Strategic Environmental Plan (SEP) for Palawan enacted in 1992 aims to divide the island into a network of environmentally critical areas. In 2016, an endowment fund for the conservation of Mt. Mantalingahan Protected Landscape (MMPL).
Further protection of lowland montane and rainforest on Palawan is required as is further research to get updated population and distribution trends of this species.
- Order: Anura
- Family: Ceratobatrachidae
- Population: Unknown
- Trend: decreasing
EDGE Score
Distribution
Found between 900-500m above sea level on Mount Balabag, in the Mantalingajan mountain range, on the island of Palawan in the western Philippines.
Habitat and Ecology
The Palawan Eastern frog is a semi-aquatic species – spends time in both the water and on land in sub montane and montane forests along streams and rivers. This species like other members of its genus is thought to breed on land by direct development – whereby miniature versions of adults emerge and the tadpole stage is bypassed.