Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

is a tropical island situated close to the southern tip of India. It is situated in the middle of

Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or ~19.8% of the water on Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia to the east. To the south it is bounded by th ...

. Because of being an island, Sri Lanka has rich endemic terrestrial and freshwater fauna, including vertebrates and several invertebrates.

Amphibian

*Phylum:

Chordata A chordate () is an animal of the phylum Chordata (). All chordates possess, at some point during their larval or adult stages, five synapomorphies, or primary physical characteristics, that distinguish them from all the other taxa. These fiv ...

*Class:

Amphibia Amphibians are four-limbed and ectothermic vertebrates of the class Amphibia. All living amphibians belong to the group Lissamphibia. They inhabit a wide variety of habitats, with most species living within terrestrial, fossorial, arbore ...

Amphibians are ectothermic vertebrates of the class Amphibia. They have soft glandular skin and live in all habitats of the world except for the ice caps. They complete an amphibious lifestyle where larval stages live in water and adults live on or closer to land. With their complex reproductive needs and permeable skins, amphibians are often ecological indicators. Sri Lanka is host to over 120 species of

amphibian Amphibians are tetrapod, four-limbed and ectothermic vertebrates of the Class (biology), class Amphibia. All living amphibians belong to the group Lissamphibia. They inhabit a wide variety of habitats, with most species living within terres ...

s, of which over 90 species are endemic to the country. The 85% of endemicity ratio makes Sri Lanka the country which has the highest amphibian endemism in Asia. During the past decade many more new amphibians have been found in Sri Lanka. The first amphibian review in Sri Lanka in 1957 identified 35 species. In 1996 the number of amphibian species rose to 53 based on research of museum collections and also a field survey. More than 250 species were proposed based on this field survey by

Rohan Pethiyagoda Rohan David Pethiyagoda is a Sri Lankan biodiversity scientist, amphibian and freshwater-fish taxonomist, author, conservationist and public-policy advocate. Early life and career Born in Colombo, Sri Lanka, 19 November 1955 Pethiyagoda had hi ...

and Kelum Manamendra-Arachchi in 1998. However Madhava Meegaskumbura et al. revised the number to around 140 species, and the discovery of over "new" 100 species has been criticised. As at 2019, 122 descriptions of amphibian species have been published, with 113 endemics. Three

caecilian Caecilians (; ) are a group of limbless, vermiform or serpentine amphibians. They mostly live hidden in the ground and in stream substrates, making them the least familiar order of amphibians. Caecilians are mostly distributed in the tropics of ...

species has been identified with one undescribed species. Sri Lanka harbours three endemic genera, ''

Adenomus ''Adenomus'' is a small genus of true toads, with only two species, endemic to Sri Lanka. ''Adenomus kandianus'' was considered as extinct for 133 years, but was rediscovered in October 2009 in the Kandy area. Description ''Adenomus'' are slen ...

'', ''

Nannophrys ''Nannophrys'' is a genus of frogs endemic to Sri Lanka. It used to be placed in the large frog family Ranidae but a phylogenetic study was undertaken using DNA sequences and it is now included in the family Dicroglossidae. They are sometimes k ...

'', and ''

Lankanectes ''Lankanectes'' is a genus of frogs in the family Nyctibatrachidae that is endemic to Sri Lanka. It is the only member of the Nyctibatrachidae to be found outside India and the only member of the subfamily Lankanectinae. There are two known spec ...

''. Most of the new species are of the genus ''

Philautus ''Philautus'' is a genus of shrub frogs in the family Rhacophoridae from Asia. Some species in this genus are now considered extinct by IUCN, while others are widespread and abundant (such as the recently described ''P. abundus'', which was spec ...

'' which was assigned to genus ''

Pseudophilautus ''Pseudophilautus'' is a genus of shrub frogs in the family Rhacophoridae endemic to the Western Ghats of southwestern India and to Sri Lanka where the majority of the species are found. Many of them are already extinct (marked with † in the s ...

'' recently. Hence, there are no amphibians of the genus ''Philautus'' (sensu stricto) in Sri Lanka. ''

Pseudophilautus pardus ''Pseudophilautus pardus'' is an extinct species of Sri Lankan shrub frogs in the family Rhacophoridae. Despite extensive surveys in recent years, the species is known only from a collection made prior to 1858. The reason for its extinction is un ...

'' and '' P. maia'', the species known only from collections made prior to 1876 are described as new species in 2007, but both are extinct. In April 2015, Mendis Wickrremasinghe et al. described another endemic ''

'' species ''P. dilmah''. In January 2019, the new species, ''P. conniffae'' was discovered in southern Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka has the highest percentage of

extinct Extinction is the termination of a kind of organism or of a group of kinds (taxon), usually a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and ...

and

threatened Threatened species are any species (including animals, plants and fungi) which are vulnerable to endangerment in the near future. Species that are threatened are sometimes characterised by the population dynamics measure of ''critical depensat ...

amphibian species in Asia. In the 20th century the country has lost 20% of its amphibians and more than half of the remaining species are on the verge of extinction. Of the world's 34 amphibian fauna that have gone extinct in the last 500 years, 19 are from Sri Lanka.

Habitat loss Habitat destruction (also termed habitat loss and habitat reduction) is the process by which a natural habitat becomes incapable of supporting its native species. The organisms that previously inhabited the site are displaced or dead, thereby ...

is attributed as the main cause of threats while fragmentation, use of

pesticide Pesticides are substances that are meant to control pests. This includes herbicide, insecticide, nematicide, molluscicide, piscicide, avicide, rodenticide, bactericide, insect repellent, animal repellent, microbicide, fungicide, and lampri ...

s, and

air pollution Air pollution is the contamination of air due to the presence of substances in the atmosphere that are harmful to the health of humans and other living beings, or cause damage to the climate or to materials. There are many different types ...

are among others.

Amphibian diversity of Sri Lanka

Order Anura: frogs

Order Gymnophiona: caecilians

References

{{Fauna of Sri Lanka *

amphibians Amphibians are four-limbed and ectothermic vertebrates of the class Amphibia. All living amphibians belong to the group Lissamphibia. They inhabit a wide variety of habitats, with most species living within terrestrial, fossorial, arbore ...