The reptilian diversity in Sri Lanka is higher than the diversity of other vertebrates such as mammals and fish with 181 reptile species. All extant reptiles are well documented through research by many local and foreign scientists and naturalists. Sri Lankan herpetologist, Anslem de Silva largely studied the biology and ecology of Sri Lanka snakes, where he documented 96 species of land and sea snakes.[1] Five genera are endemic to Sri Lanka - Aspidura, Balanophis, Cercaspis, Haplocercus, and Pseudotyphlops.[2] Out of them only five of the land snakes are considered potentially deadly and life threatening to humans. Among snakes, 54 are endemic to Sri Lanka.[3] The total increased to 107 with new descriptions of Dendrelaphis, Rhinophis, Aspidura and Dryocalamus.[4][5][6][7]
Lizard diversity in the island has been documented and studied by many local scientists and researchers such as Imesh Nuwan Bandara,[8] Kalana Maduwage, Anjana Silva,[9] Rohan Pethiyagoda, and Kelum Manamendra-Arachchi.[10] There are 111 lizards known from Sri Lanka, with 17 newly discovered in 2006, and two more in 2016 and 2017.[11][12] One of species was discovered in 2019 from Ensalwatta, Matara.[13] In 2019, seven more endemic day geckos have been discovered by Suranjan Karunaratne and Mendis Wickramasinghe.[14][15] In December 2019, three more endemic geckos were discovered.[16] In May 2020, another endemic skink was discovered.[17] Three new day gecko species were discovered in 2021.[18][19]
Apart from them, Sri Lanka is home to two species of crocodiles,[20] and nine species of turtles.[21]
This is a list of reptiles found in Sri Lanka.
^"Snakes in Sri Lanka". Amazing lanka. 2 March 2014. Retrieved 27 September 2016.
^"Genus-level phylogeny of snakes reveals the origins of species richness in Sri Lanka". Novataxa. 11 February 2013. Retrieved 3 February 2019.
^"poisonous snakes in Sri Lanka". poisonous snakes in Sri Lanka blog. 28 November 2009. Retrieved 27 September 2016.
^"Genus-level phylogeny of snakes reveals the origins of species richness in Sri Lanka". Zootaxa. 11 February 2013. Retrieved 11 March 2018.
^"A new species of Aspidura Wagler, 1830 (Squamata: Colubridae: Natricinae) from Knuckles, World Heritage Site, Sri Lanka". Biotaxa. Retrieved 25 February 2019.
^"A new species of Dryocalamus (Serpentes: Colubridae) endemic to the rainforests of southwestern Sri Lanka". zootaxa.4748.2.2. Retrieved 11 March 2020.
^"A new species of Dendrelaphis Boulenger, 1890 (Reptilia: Colubridae) from the wet zone of Sri Lanka with a redescription of Dendrelaphis bifrenalis (Boulenger, 1890)" (PDF). Taprobanica. Retrieved 28 October 2017.
^"Endemic Agamid Lizards of Sri Lanka". Sri Lanka Endemics. Retrieved 27 September 2016.
^"Hemipeneal Morphology of Sri Lankan Dragon Lizards" (PDF). Ceylon Journal of Science. Retrieved 27 September 2016.
^"Kelum Manamendra-Arachchi". Google Scholar. Retrieved 27 September 2016.
^"A Rock Dwelling Day-Gecko (Gekkonidae: Cnemaspis) from Salgala, an unprotected Lowland Rainforest in Sri Lanka". Zootaxa. 14 September 2016. Retrieved 11 March 2017.
^"A New Species of Cnemaspis (Squamata: Gekkonidae) from Knuckles Range of Sri Lanka". Zootaxa. Retrieved 11 March 2017.
^"A new species of endemic day gecko (Reptilia: Gekkonidae: Cnemaspis) from a wet zone forest in the second peneplain of Southern Sri Lanka" (PDF). Amphibian & Reptile Conservation. Archived from the original (PDF) on 14 July 2019. Retrieved 11 March 2019.
^"Integrative taxonomy reveals six new species of day geckos of the genus Cnemaspis Strauch, 1887 (Reptilia:Squamata: Gekkonidae) from geographically-isolated hill forests in Sri Lanka". Vertebrate Zoology. Retrieved 25 August 2019.
^"A new species of dwarf day gecko (Reptilia: Gekkonidae: Cnemaspis) from lower-elevations of Samanala Nature Reserve in Central massif, Sri Lanka" (PDF). Amphibian & Reptile Conservation. Retrieved 21 September 2019.
^"Three new species of day geckos (Reptilia: Gekkonidae: Cnemaspis Strauch, 1887) from isolated granite cave habitats in Sri Lanka" (PDF). Journal of Amphibian & Reptile Conservation. Retrieved 2 January 2020.
^"A new species of Lankascincus Greer, 1991 (Reptilia: Scincidae) with an overview of the L. gansi group" (PDF). Taprobanica. Retrieved 22 May 2020.
^Karunarathna, Suranjan; De Silva, Anslem; Gabadage, Dinesh; Botejue, Madhava; Madawala, Majintha; Ukuwela, Kanishka D.B. (2021). "A new species of day gecko (Reptilia, Gekkonidae, Cnemaspis Strauch, 1887) from Sri Lanka with an updated ND2 gene phylogeny of Sri Lankan and Indian species". Zoosystematics and Evolution. 97: 191–209. doi:10.3897/zse.97.60099. S2CID 233441919. Retrieved 2021-03-21.
^Departemen Biologi, Fakultas Matematika dan Ilmu Pengetahuan Alam, Universitas Indonesia, Kampus UI, Depok, 16424, Indonesia; Amarasinghe, A.A. Thasun; Karunarathna, Suranjan; Madawala, Majintha; de Silva, Anslem (2021-05-27). "TWO NEW RUPICOLOUS DAY GECKOS OF THE Cnemaspis alwisi GROUP (REPTILIA: GEKKONIDAE) FROM SRI LANKA". Taprobanica. 10: 23–38. doi:10.47605/tapro.v10i1.245. S2CID 236390650. Retrieved 2021-06-04.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
^"Crocodiles in Sri Lanka". Amazing lanka. March 2014. Retrieved 27 September 2016.
^"Turtles and Tortoises of Sri Lanka". Amazing Lanka. 21 May 2015. Retrieved 27 September 2016.
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