1991; Heaney & Rickart, 1990) and have underscored the importance of such areas both as natural laboratories and as potential faunal reserves. Unfortunately, this unique fauna is now severely threatened by habitat destruction. Primary forest cover in the Philippines as a whole has been reduced from more than 80% of the total land area near the turn of the century to ca. 8% in 1988 (Myers, 1988), and the destruction continues at an alarming rate. The impact of deforestation on wildlife may be particularly severe on small islands, where population and community structures may be less robust. Forest destruction also poses a very direct threat to human welfare. In addition to the loss of invaluable forest resources, the elimination of natural watershed protection in upland regions greatly increases the likelihood of seasonal flooding. On 5 November 1991, this last possibility became a terrible reality in northern Leyte, where thousands of Filipinos lost their lives in catastrophic floods and landslides associated with a tropical storm. The scope of this disaster was certainly magnified by the extensive logging that has virtually eliminated interior forests throughout most of the region. In this paper we present the first synoptic lists of mammals from three islands in the central Visayan group: Leyte, the eighth largest island in the Philippine archipelago, and Biliran and Maripipi, two small islands immediately north of Leyte (fig. 1). All three were part of the island of Greater Mindanao during a period of lower sea level in the late Pleistocene, becoming isolated about 10,000 years ago (Heaney, 1986). In relation to present-day Mindanao (with an area of 99,078 km 2 , Leyte (7,213 km 2 , Biliran (498 km 2 , and Maripipi (22 km 2 ) represent a graded series of sizes, each differing from the next by a similar factor. Each of these islands retains some areas representing the three major types of natural forest vegetation: lowland forest, montane forest, and mossy forest (or dipterocarp, lower montane, and upper montane rain forest; sensu Whitmore, 1 984). It is our purpose to assess the taxonomic status and summarize available ecological information for all mammal species known to occur on each island. Because many of these species are poorly known, we provide as much detailed information as is practical. Further analysis of distributional data is presented elsewhere (eg, Heaney et al, 1989; Heaney & Rickart, 1990; Heaney, 1991a). History of Investigations Although there are scattered early distributional records of mammals from Leyte (Hollister, 1912, 1913; Taylor, 1 934), the history of comprehensive collecting on these islands is limited. In 1963, D. P. Empress of Silliman University collected bats from within and around the Cathedral Cave complex near Inopacan, Hindang Municipality, Leyte (specimens in the Royal Ontario Museum). During the same decade, G. L. Alcasid and M. Celestino of the Philippine National Museum and D. S. Rabor of Silliman University made collections in the highlands of northern and central Leyte (specimens in the American Museum of Natural History and the Delaware Museum of Natural History). Most of these localities are mapped and briefly described by Parkes (1 973). Only small portions of these collections have been described in the literature (Heaney, 1985a; Musser, 1982ab; Peterson, 1981; Peterson & Fenton, 1970). Prior to our field studies (1981-1987), no surveys had been conducted on either Biliran or Maripipi. A preliminary listing of non-volant mammal species from all three islands appeared in Heaney (1986); however, this did not include the results from our extensive surveys of 1987. We have attempted to include information on all specimens now in museums. However, most of the information presented here is based on our own field surveys. Our work on Leyte was conducted along an elevational transect on the west-central portion of the island (figs. 1 2). A brief reconnaissance trip was made to this region from 23 to 28 May 1984 (voucher specimens in the University of Michigan Museum of Zoology ummz), but most work took place from 2 March to 13 April 1987 (specimens in the Philippine National Museum pnm, the Silliman University Museum su, the United States National Museum of Natural History usnm, the Visayas State College of Agriculture visca, and the Western Aus-Fig. 1 Map of Leyte Island, showing the relative positions of Biliran and Maripipi islands and the locations of Leyte collecting sites (as enumerated in text). A site of the elevational transect in the visca-mt. Pangasugan region (sites L1-L6) shown in Figure 2. Contour lines in meters. FIELDIANA: ZOOLOGY