We describe a new Pseudophilautus species, P. conniffae sp. nov. from southern Sri Lanka. It was previously confused with Pseudophilautus rus (Manamendra-Arachchi & Pethiyagoda). The new species differs from the latter by the combination of the following characters: fourth toe webbing to penultimate subarticular tubercle on inner and outer sides (vs. fourth toe webbing in between penultimate and anetpenultimate subarticular tubercles on inner and outer sides), presence of conical median lingual process (vs. absent), and black patches on the posterior flank, anterior and posterior edges of the thigh (vs. black patches on the anterior surface of the thigh). Pseudophilautus conniffae sp. nov. may be sympatric with P. limbus (Manamendra-Arachchi & Pethiyagoda), which shares certain characters with the new species. The new species is, however, distinguished from P. limbus by the following characters: having supernumerary tubercles on manus (vs. lacking), absence of frontoparietal ridges (vs. presence), fourth toe webbing to penultimate subarticular tubercle on both sides (vs. fourth toe webbing between penultimate and anetpenultimate subarticular tubercle on both sides), third toe webbing to distal subarticular tubercle on both sides (vs. distal subarticular tubercle on outer side and below penultimate subarticular tubercle on inner side), and having the dorsum light brown with dark brown patches (vs. black and yellow variegated pattern on dorsum). The new species may be restricted to the southwestern wet zone of Sri Lanka. It is compared with all known Pseudophilautus species and also provided with a field key to identify it from those species that are sympatric with it or inhabit the southwestern wet zone.
The amphibian fauna of Sri Lanka comprises 120 species, including 107 (~90.0%) endemic species. They belong to five families: Bufonidae, Dicroglossidae, Ichthyophiidae, Microhylidae, and Rhacophoridae. Based on distribution, we recognized five zoogeographic zones for them, Central Hills, Dry Zone, Knuckles Range, Lowland Wet Zone, and Rakwana Hills. Fifty three species were reported from the Central Hills (48 endemics [90.6%] and 42 [79.2%] threatened species). 47 species were recorded from the Lowland Wet Zone, including 36 (76.6%) endemics and 28 (59.6%) threatened species. The Knuckles Range had 25 species, of which, 19 (76.0%) were endemics and 15 (60.0%) are threatened species. 19 species were reported from Dry Zone including seven endemics (36.8%) and four threatened species (21.1%). Out of 29 species, which inhabited in the Rakwana Hills, 26 were endemics (~89.7%) including 24 (82.8%) threatened species. Species diversity along the elevational gradient was also observed with the highest species richness in the mid-elevational localities. Family Ichthyophiidae can be considered as the least studied family. Recent rediscoveries and studies have helped to reduce the number of extinct species from 21 to 18. It is speculated that some of the other extinct species have to be rediscovered or probably were misidentified as other species. About 90% of Sri Lankan amphibians occur in the regions with the highest human populations where there are established agricultural lands. Loss of habitats, competition due to anthropogenic species and invasive species, pollution (cause for malformations, parasites, and other diseases), and climate change appear to be major threats.
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