Featured Wildlife Species (Flora) Philippine Clearing House Mechanism (2024)

Wednesday,March 11, 2020radniw518
Featured Wildlife Species (Flora) Philippine Clearing House Mechanism (1)

Rafflesia species are parasitic plants and holds the recognition as the World’s Largest Flower. Rafflesia speciosa is one of the 13 species of Rafflesia found in the Philippines. It was discovered in the mountains of Sibalom Natural Park in Antique, Panay in 2002. This medium-sized Rafflesia is known to occur only in the island of Panay where it thrives in lowland secondary forest patches in dry areas under thick leaf litter.

Locally known as “Uruy” and “Karay-a” in the Panay Peninsula, it may take up to nine months to spring from seed to pod to flower. The flowers of Rafflesia Speciosa takes about 18 hours to expand fully but ashort-term bloomer that only last up to 3-5 days. It was adopted as the symbol of the Sibalom Natural Park and the municipality of Sibalom in Antique, Panay. The population of this new species are currently categorized as Endangered as their habitats are threatened by slash-and-burn agriculture and deforestation.

Among the 13 Rafflesia species found in the Philippines,rafflesia schadenbergianais the biggest recorded flower measuring about 0.8 meters in diameter and can be found in Mt. Apo in Davao. The rafflesia consueloaediscovered last 2014 is considered smallest species among the giant Rafflesia flower with an average diameter of 9.73 centimeters. It was discovered in the more than 97,000-hectare Pantabangan-Carranglan watershed in Nueva Ecija province by team of biologists from the University of the Philippines.

The Rafflesia flower is rusty or reddish brown, composed of 5 petal-like structures (perigones) which are variously designed with whitish warts of different shapes. The perigones are subtended by several whorls of bracts that are covered by a cupule in young buds. Right next to the perigone lobes is a diaphragm, inside of which and can be viewed through a central orifice (opening), are processes attached to a dome-shaped central disk. One unique character of Rafflesia is its smell that resembles rotting meat so that when in bloom, flies are attracted to the flowers making them the best agents of pollination. The flowers are unisexual, i.e. they are either male or female.

  • Featured Wildlife Species (Flora) Philippine Clearing House Mechanism (2)
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Featured Wildlife Species (Flora) Philippine Clearing House Mechanism (6)

QUICK FACTS:

Family:Rafflesiaceae
Genus:Rafflesia
Known Species:28
Range:S-E Asian (Indonesia, Malaysia, Borneo, Sumatra, Thailand, Philippines)
Habitat:Parasite
Hostplant:Some species of Tetrastigma Vine, found in the rainforest.
Biology:Pollinated by flies
Status:Threatened
Largest bloom:R. Arnoldii – max. diameter: 106.7 m (3 ft 6 in), max. weight: 11 kilograms (24 lb)
Discovery:R. Arnoldii, Indonesia, 1818 (Stamford Rafflesand James Arnold)

***************Sources and Further Reading***************

Featured Wildlife Species (Flora) Philippine Clearing House Mechanism (2024)

FAQs

What are the flora of the Philippines? ›

The families of gingers, begonias, gesneriads, orchids, pandans, palms, and dipterocarps are particularly high in endemic species. For example, two-thirds of the 150 species of palms present in the country are found nowhere else in the world.

How many species of plants and animals are endemic to the Philippines? ›

The Philippines has more than 52,177 described species, half of which are endemic or found nowhere else on earth. In terms of terrestrial vertebrates, the Philippines is known to host 1,238 species of which 618 (or 50%) is endemic.

What are the parasitic plants in the Philippines? ›

Rafflesia leonardi is a parasitic plant species of the genus Rafflesia. It is endemic to the Philippines. Rafflesia banaoana is considered to be a synonym by some sources, but is recognized as a separate species by others.

What is the term for species that are only found in the Philippines and nowhere else in the world? ›

Home to large numbers of endemic species

Of more than 52,100 species described in the Philippines, more than half are found nowhere else in the world.

What kind of wildlife is in the Philippines? ›

Smaller species like monkeys, rodents, bats, shrews, deer, mongoose and porcupines are found throughout the country. The Philippine Tarsier is endemic to the country and is one of the smallest monkey species in the world.

What is fauna and flora in the Philippines? ›

 FLORA —— is the plant life occurring in particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring or indigenous- native plant life. A treatise on or list of the plants of an area or period. FAUNA —— are defined as the animals characteristic of a particular time period or a particular location.

What Philippine flora and fauna species are categorized as critically endangered? ›

List of Critically Endangered species in Philippines
scientific_namecommon_namecategory
Bubalus mindorensisTamarawCR
Dicaeum quadricolorCebu FlowerpeckerCR
Cycas curraniiCurran's PitogoCR
Platymantis insulatusGigante Wrinkled Ground FrogCR
90 more rows

How many species of flora are there in the Philippines? ›

Plants. At the very least, one-third of the more than 9,250 vascular plant species native to the Philippines are endemic.

How many wildlife species are in the Philippines? ›

Across the 7,600 plus islands that make up the Philippines, you can find over 52,177 different types of animals. The country has one of the highest rates of discovery of new animal species in the world. Over 50% of these species exist nowhere else on earth.

What parasite is common in the Philippines? ›

According to earlier studies on intestinal parasite infection in the Philippines (Cabrera, 1984; Oberst et al., 1987; Lee et al., 2000), the soil-transmitted intestinal helminths such as A. lumbricoides, hookworm, and T. trichiura show more than 30% high infection rates.

What is the common parasitic infection in the Philippines? ›

Tricuris trichiura and Ascaris lumbricoides remain to be the most prevalent helminths. The infection rates of these helminths were around 40%, which is similar to results obtained by a recent survey in a Philippine community (Kim et al., 2003). Hookworm infection, although common, has a prevalence lesser than 10%.

Which plant is totally parasite? ›

Total parasites depend on the host entirely for food and water. An example of this type of parasitic plant is Cuscuta which depends on the host for food and water.

What animal species is found only in the Philippines? ›

The Philippine crocodile, the species endemic only to the country, went from data deficient to critically ... The Giant golden-crowned flying fox (Acerodon jubatus) is native and endemic exclusively to the Philippines.

What makes the Philippines rich in biodiversity? ›

The Philippines is one of the 17 mega biodiverse countries, containing two-thirds of the Earth's biodiversity and 70 percent of world's plants and animal species due to its geographical isolation, diverse habitats and high rates of endemism. The Philippines' biodiversity provides several ecosystem services.

What is the uniqueness of Philippine biodiversity? ›

Many of the island comprising the archipelago are believed to have a very high degree of land and animal species endemism covering at least 25 genera of plants and 50% of terrestrial wildlife. The country hosts more than 52,177 described species,of which more than half is found nowhere else in the world.

What plants only grow in Philippines? ›

List of Plants species that are Endemic in Philippines;
  • Areca whitfardii.
  • Artocarpus rubrovenus.
  • Artocarpus treculianus.
  • Baccaurea glabrifolia.
  • Balakata luzonica.

Does the Philippines have a national flower? ›

Philippines. Jasminum sambac (Filipino and Philippine Spanish: sampaguita) was adopted by the Philippines as the national flower on 1 February 1934 via Proclamation No.

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