in Sri Lanka - Ministry of Environment

Analysis of Faunal GroupsDevaka WeerakoonDepartment of Zoology, University of Colombo, Colombo 03Altogether 748 inland indigenous vertebrate species were assessed. However, the 30 marinemammals were excluded from the analysis due to insufficient data. For them only the global listingis provided. Out of these 345 (46%) species were evaluated to be Nationally Threatened (Table 1).Among the threatened vertebrate species, 233 (68%) are endemic to Sri Lanka. Nineteen speciesof endemic amphibians have not been recorded in Sri Lanka during the past 100 years, and thesewere considered as Extinct. Further, two species of fish, one species of amphibian and 1 speciesof reptile were listed as possibly extinct as there are no recent records for this species. Of thesurviving inland vertebrates, 122 species are Critically Endangered: i.e., one in every 6 species ofinland indigenous vertebrates of Sri Lanka is currently facing a high risk of extinction (CR) in thewild. Among the total endemic vertebrate species, 92 (29%) are Critically Endangered, 98 (31%)are Endangered and 39 (12%) are Vulnerable. Among the vertebrate fauna, the highest numberof threatened species was recorded among reptiles (107 or 31%), followed by amphibians, birds,mammals and freshwater fish. One in every two species of freshwater fish, amphibians, reptilesand mammals and one in every five species of birds in the island are currently facing the risk ofbecoming extinct in the wild.Among the selected groups of inland invertebrate fauna evaluated, the highest number of threatenedspecies was recorded among the Land snails (179), followed by bees, butterflies, spiders,dragonflies, ants and freshwater crabs (Table1). However, within a single group of invertebratesevaluated, the highest proportion of threatened species was recorded among the freshwater crabs(90% of the total crab species recorded to date), where one in every two species in Sri Lanka iscurrently facing an immediate and extremely high risk of extinction (CR) in the wild.Of the vertebrate species evaluated, five freshwater fish, three amphibians, 15 reptiles, 35 birdsand seven mammals were assessed as Near Threatened (NT). Similarly, among the evaluatedinvertebrate species, eight spiders, five freshwater crabs, 17 dragonflies, 12 bees, 21 butterfliesand 12 land snails were evaluated as Near Threatened.Among the inland vertebrate species evaluated, nine freshwater fish, one amphibian, 27 reptilesand six mammals were included in the Data Deficient category. Among the invertebrate speciesassessed, 394 spiders, 11 dragonflies, 109 ants, 06 butterflies and 36 land snails had to beincluded in the Data Deficient category, because they lacked sufficient distribution data withinSri Lanka. The number of species listed in the data deficient category is extremely high among thespiders and ants as very little information exists about members of these two groups. However, theywere included in the assessment to encourage further study of these two economically importanttaxonomic groups.145