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