in Sri Lanka - Ministry of Environment

The Taxonomy and Conservation Status of Amphibians in Sri LankaKelum Manamendra-Arachchi 1 and Madhava Meegaskumbura 21Postgraduate Institute of Archaeology, University of Kelaniya2Department of Zoology, University of Peradeniya, PeradeniyaIntroductionKnowledge on Sri Lanka’s amphibians has increased rapidly during the past decade. The firstreview of this fauna, Kirtisinghe, (1957) recognized 35 species. This figure was increased to 53species by Dutta & Manamendra-Arachchi (1996) based on examination of museum materialsand the preliminary findings of a field survey that commenced in 1993. This field survey hasresulted in a complete re-evaluation of the Amphibian fauna of Sri Lanka. Further, this surveyfacilitated the re-discovery of several species that had otherwise been known only from typespecimens collected in the 19th century. In 1998, Pethiyagoda & Manamendra-Arachchi,based on the findings of their extensive field survey, announced that Sri Lanka’s amphibianfauna might comprise of as many as 250 species, a figure that was subsequently revised to~ 140 species by Meegaskumbura et al., (2002). To date, descriptions of 111 valid amphibianspecies have been published (Manamendra-Arachchi & Pethiyagoda, 2005; Meegaskumbura& Manamendra-Arachchi, 2005; Mendis, 2012). This includes 95 endemic species and threeendemic genera, Adenomus, Lankanectes and Nannophrys.Bossuyt et al., (2004) demonstrated conclusively that the Sri Lankan Philautids have long beenisolated from the Indian group, with no biotic exchange having taken place between the islandand the mainland populations in the past ~ 500,000 years. The presence of ancient lineages ofamphibians in Sri Lanka was also demonstrated by Roelants et al., (2004), who showed thatthe endemic genus Lankanectes diverged from the mainstream of Ranidae before the India-Sri Lanka plate separated from the Madagascar plate in the Upper Cretaceous. Sri Lanka’sAmphibian fauna are therefore important not just for their species richness, but also for theirrepresentation of ancient lineages.ConservationIn year 2004, the conservation status of all species of amphibians described and consideredvalid world-wide, including 94 species from Sri Lanka, has been carried out (The GlobalAmphibian Assessment). This analysis has shown that out of the 34 species of amphibiansconfirmed as extinct worldwide in the past 500 years, 21 are from Sri Lanka. These comprise of19 species belonging to genus Pseudophilautus, and one species each of the endemic generaAdenomus and Nannophrys. However, Wickramasinghe et al., (2012) have re-discoveredAdenomus kandianus and reported the possible rediscovery of Pseudophilautus stellatus,another species that had been listed as extinct in Sri Lanka, which will bring down the numberof species that are listed as extinct in Sri Lanka to 19.The amphibians are not exploited for commercial purposes in Sri Lanka. Yet, many species ofamphibians are running a high risk of becoming extinct. Habitat loss is the main threat faced bythe amphibian fauna. The vast majority of the amphibians are restricted to the south-westernwet zone quarter of the island (Dutta & Manamendra-Arachchi, 1996), where more than 95%88