Five new species of geckos are described from Sri Lanka by morphological comparison and morphometric analysis leading to review the genus Cnemaspis in the country. The type series of these species were identified from following localities: C. alwisi and C. kumarasinghei from the intermediate zone, C. retigalensis from the dry zone, C. molligodai from the lowland wet zone and C. samanalensis from the mountain region of the wet zone in the country. The high degree of endemicity (90%) shown by Cnemaspis in Sri Lanka could be attributed to geographical isolation. In addition, the taxonomic issue of C. jerdonii scalpensis is discussed and the species C. scalpensis is errected.
Eight new species of Pseudophilautus (Pseudophilautus bambaradeniyai, P. dayawansai, P. jagathgunawardanai, P. karunarathnai, P. newtonjayawardanei, P. puranappu, P. samarakoon, and P. sirilwijesundarai) were discovered as a result of a survey carried out to study the herpetofaunal diversity with the changes in elevation in the Sripada World Heritage Site (Peak Wilderness), Central Hills of Sri Lanka. Detailed descriptions of new species along with colour photographs and line drawings for each species are provided herein. The new species possess unique morphological characters and are well distinguishable from one another that could be easily identified in the field. The conservation status of all species described here, have been considered Critically Endangered, except for P. newtonjayawardanei, as all the new species are recorded from single locations, and their habitats are under severe threat.
Pseudophilautus stellatus (Kelaart 1853) has been rediscovered from the Peak Wilderness, Central Hills of Sri Lanka. The species, till now known only from its lost holotype, was the first shrub frog described from Sri Lanka, and had not been reported since then. It was thought to have become extinct for nearly 157 years, being the amphibian species "lost" for the longest amount of time. Here we designate a neotype from the material collected at what we consider its type locality, having considered characters of the lost holotype and provide a complete description. We have conducted a molecular phy-logenetic analysis, on which basis the species is well differentiated from all other Pseudophilautus sequenced so far, and placed in a clade together with P. femoralis, P. frankenbergi, P. mooreorum, and P. poppiae.
The present work describes two new species of Lankascincus from the Sripada Sanctuary (Peak Wilderness Sanctuary) of Sri Lanka. Lankascincus sripadensis sp. nov. is the largest member in the genus and it is morphologically closely related to L. deignani (Taylor 1950). But Lankascincus sripadensis sp. nov. can be clearly distinguished from other members of the genus, by having three loreal scales, posterior loreals larger than the anterior in longitudinal axis, prefrontal and upper anterior preocular touching posterior loreal; 2 nd , 3 rd supralabials and 1 st subocular scale touching lower posterior loreal; males with pale brown throat and the ventral head; a dark brown stripe in the light brown background on the dorsal body, divided nasal. The other new species, Lankascincus munindradasai sp. nov. is morphologically closely related to L. taprobanensis (Kelaart, 1854) and can be clearly distinguished from other member of the genus, by having one loreal scale, the loreal is touching the prefrontal, frontonasal, nasal, 1 st and 2 nd supralabial scales, upper and lower preoculars; the loreal is larger than the longitudinal axis.
A new species of rock dwelling gecko belonging to the genus Cnemaspis is described from Sri Lanka based on a suite of morphological features. The species is the largest of its genus described from Sri Lanka so far (snout-vent length 52-54 mm) and is the second largest of the Western Ghats-Sri Lanka Biodiversity Hotspot. It may be diagnosed in details of both scalation (ventrals186-207; mid-subcaudals large; absence of precloacal pores; 15 femoral pores on each side; 22-23 and 23-25 subdigital lamellae on finger IV and on toe IV, respectively; smooth scales on tail dorsum) and colouration (five prominent trilobate shaped cream markings pointing towards head and extending from neck to vent).The species is found in a unique habitat in the Rammalakanda Forest, where it is threatened by deforestation.
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