AMPHIBIAN TOURS IN SRI LANKA

Sri Lanka has a very rich diversity of frogs and toads. The island has had a very important place in the region in holding not only a high number of species but also representing ancient lineages of the region’s amphibian fauna. Amazingly, about 90% of the country’s amphibian species, of the 120 species on it known to date, are endemic to it. Many of these species are associated with our woodland habitats and biodiversity-rich forests.

In our specialized amphibian tours we cover a number of amphibian-rich habitats looking for species from tiny colourful endemic shrub frogs to larger frogs and toads. We will cover a tally of about 60 species of amphibians on these tours. We list below species which are possible to find with some effort on our general wildlife tours. To see more, over 50 species of amphibians, on a visit we provide a specialised amphibian-watching tour for enthusiasts.

The table shows the number of possible sites for each species and the number of chances available to try for them on each itinerary. The list is based on The Fauna of Sri Lanka. Status of Taxonomy, Reserch and Conservation. 2006. Editad by C N B Bambaradeniya. IUCN

Note: If the number of ‘chances’ for a species is more than the number of ‘sites’ this indicates that the possibility of finding that species is significantly high and thus it can be expected to be seen on most of our tours. Such species usually seen on most tours are also indicated with: #

Species Number of possible sites and chances in each itinerary
Itinerary 1 Itinerary 2 Itinerary 3 Itinerary 4
Sites Chances Sites Chances Sites Chances Sites Chances
Adenomus kelaartii  E 4 4 4 4 4 4 3 3
Bufo atukoralei  E 2 2 2 2 2 2 1 1
Bufo kotagamai  E 2 2 2 2 2 2 1 1
Bufo melanostictus   8 8 9 10 8 8 6 6
Kaloula taprobanica 2 2 3 3 2 2 2 2
Microhyla rubra  1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
Ramanella variegata  1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
Uperodon systoma  1 1 1 1 2 2 1 1
Euphlyctis cyanophlyctis  4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4
Euphlyctis hexadactylus 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3
 Fejervarya kirtisinghei E 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2
Fejervarya limnocharis  2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2
Hoplobatrachus crassus 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4
Lankanectes corrugatus E 4 6 4 6 4 6 4 6
Nannophrys ceylonensis E 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3
Nannophrys marmorata E 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
Rana aurantiaca  2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2
Rana gracilis E 1 1 3 3 4 4 1 1
Rana temporalis E 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3
Philautus abundus E 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3
Philautus fergusonianus E 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2
Philautus popularis E 3 3 3 3 3 3 2 2
Polypedates cruciger E 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4
Polypedates eques E 3 4 3 4 3 4 2 3
Polypedates maculatus  3 3 3 3 3 3 2 2