Subject: The Amphibian Fauna of Sri Lanka THE AMPHIBIAN FAUNA OF SRI LANKA by Sushil K. Dutta & Kelum Manamendra-Arachchi, 1996. Wildlife Heritage Trust of Sri Lanka, Colombo. 230 pages, 269 figures [100 text figures and maps plus 169 photographs (71 monochrome and 98 colour)]. Available from: Natural History Book Service, 2-3 Wills Road, Totnes, Devon, TQ9 5XN, UK http://www.nhbs.co.uk/ A treasured item in my collection of books on Sri Lanka's animal life is a copy of "The Amphibia of Ceylon" by P. Kirtisinghe (1957), received from the late R.B. Freeman while an undergraduate at University College London. As the last comprehensive systematic account of the amphibians of Sri Lanka Kirtisinghe's book, out of print for many years, was one of the most sought after works on Sri Lankan herpetology. Since the publication of Kirtisinghe's book in 1957 a small number of papers by Kirtisinghe and others such as P.H.D.H. de Silva, A.M. Morgan-Davies and F. Ranil Senanayake have appeared, and more recently Ronald Nussbaum and Carl Gans published a revision of Sri Lankan caecilians and B.T. Clarke revised the endemic ranid genus _Nannophrys_. In a paper in the 'Proceedings of the Seminar on Present Status of Faunal Taxonomy in Sri Lanka' (Sri Lanka Association for the Advancement of Science, Section D, June 1987), Ranil Senanayake drew attention to the many nominal species of the tree frog family Rhacophoridae which had been treated as synonyms by Kirtisinghe and suggested that the diversity of Sri Lankan amphibians was much greater than was indicated in Kirtisinghe's book. That this was indeed the case has been confirmed by the discovery of several new species of anurans during the last few years by Prithiviraj Fernando and his colleagues and by Kelum Manamendra-Arachchi and Dinesh Gabadage, and is indicated also by the preliminary list of Sri Lanka amphibians published by Anslem de Silva [Loris 20(3): 121-126, 1994]. In the early 1980s Sushil K. Dutta (now of Uktal University, Orissa, India) undertook a major museum-based study of the amphibians of India and Sri Lanka for his PhD thesis at the University of Kansas. Between 1993-96 Kelum Manamendra-Arachchi (Wildlife Heritage Trust, Sri Lanka) made an extensive survey of the amphibians of Sri Lanka, sampling a total of some 235 sites. "The Amphibian Fauna of Sri Lanka" by Sushil K. Dutta and Kelum Manamendra-Arachchi is the result of the fusion of this expertise and information. That it is the most important work that has been published to date on Sri Lanka's Amphibia is obvious. It is also clear that this book is destined to be a landmark publication on South Asian amphibians in general. Considering that the authors' decision to collaborate was only made in 1995 this book surely also represents an astonishing degree of industry and efficiency on the part of the authors and publisher! The introduction summarises previous work on Sri Lanka's amphibians, lists the collections examined in the course of researching the book and briefly explains the methods of study used, including diagrams illustrating the various anatomical features employed in the descriptions of anuran species. A list of the 235 sites sampled by the junior author (including latitude and longitude coordinates) is given, with a map of Sri Lanka showing the distribution of the sites. There is also a brief account of the climate and geography of Sri Lanka (with a map of the island showing relief and rainfall) and a short section on conservation. The main descriptive text of the book is divided into five sections, corresponding to the families of Amphibia represented in Sri Lanka: Ichthyophiidae (caecilians), Microhylidae (narrow-mouthed frogs), Bufonidae (typical toads), Ranidae (typical frogs) and Rhacophoridae (tree frogs). At the end of the book is an appendix of 16 unidentified anuran species additional to the 50 dealt with in the main text, a list of literature cited and an index of scientific names. The systematic account within each family chapter is preceded by a key to the species. Following the valid scientific name and references to the original description and synonyms the account of each species is organised under the subheadings Diagnosis, Description, Colour, Comments, Distribution, Etymology and Material examined. Each species is illustrated with photographs (usually several and for most including at least one in colour) and diagrams of diagnostic features. Distribution, based on material examined, is shown as dots on the accompanying map. The (at times complex) problems of validity of names and synonymy are ably discussed in the Comments section of each species. According to Dutta and Manamendra-Arachchi, Sri Lanka's amphibian fauna is represented by the following families and genera (with numbers of species within genera indicated): Ichthyophiidae: Ichthyophis 3 Microhylidae: Kaloula 1 Microhyla 4 Ramanella 3 Uperodon 1 Bufonidae: Bufo 7 Ranidae: Limnonectes 4 Haplobatrachus 2 Nannophrys 3 Euphlyctis 2 Rana 3 Tomopterna 2 Rhacophoridae: Philautus 8 Polypedates 4 Rhacophorus 5 Theloderma 1 Total: 53 This number represents a very considerable increase over the 35 species/ subspecies recognised by Kirtisinghe. What is remarkable is that much of this increase is not due to the description of new species but as a result of the revised status of many, from synonyms to valid taxa. In fact, no new species are described in this book, although the Appendix (in the words of the authors) "draw[s] attention to the riches that await formal description". Inspite of the enormous contribution made to the study of Sri Lankan amphibians through this book its authors modestly describe their work as a "...review of the 'state of the art' insofar as taxonomic knowledge of the Sri Lankan amphibians is concerned, laying a foundation upon which future researches by ourselves and others could be based...What we do attempt to provide is a work that will serve as a reliable means of identification until a full-fledged revision of the fauna is published..." In addition to the many species resurrected from synonymy the generic nomenclature adopted here will be novel to many who take an interest in South Asian herpetology. Among the ranids, for example, a total of six genera are recognised, with only three species retained in the nominate genus _Rana_. However, it is not clear if all the recognised genera are monophyletic in a cladistic sense. The book is largely free of typographical errors but the few that remain are relatively innocuous, e.g. in the caption to Figure 1 the reference to 'Appendix 2' should actually be to Table 1; under _Theloderma schmarda_ '_schmardanum_' is incorrectly used in the Diagnosis, and the initials of B.T. Clarke are missing in the list of literature cited. However, to draw attention to such trivial typos in an otherwise splendid work borders on the churlish. I would have liked to have seen a general chapter preceding the individual sections on anuran families where a key to the families might have been included. Also, a key to tadpoles, at least to family level (if not to lower taxa), would have been useful. These are minor criticisms that should not detract the least from this altogether remarkable work. The authors generously acknowledge the help they have received from many individuals. One without whom this book would never have materialised is Rohan Pethiyagoda, whose idea the book was in the first place, and who as catalyst, editor and publisher has made this work possible. Priyantha ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Dilrukshan Priyantha Wijesinghe Email:dwijesin@email.gc.cuny.edu Department of Entomology Fax: 212-769 5277 American Museum of Natural History Central Park West at 79th Street New York, NY 10024