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Publications (22)
Maduru Oya National Park (MONP) (588 km2) lies in the districts of Ampara and Polonnaruwa representing areas of the dry zone. The climax plant community of the area is tropical dry mixed evergreen forests. However, large tracts of forests within the park had been severely exploited for shifting cultivation resulting in secondary forests and vast st...
The Sri Lankan leopard (Panthera pardus kotiya) is an endangered subspecies restricted to isolated and fragmented populations in Sri Lanka. Among them, melanistic leopards have been recorded on a few occasions. Literature suggests the evolution of melanism several times in the Felidae family, with three species having distinct mutations. Neverthele...
Elephas maximus maximus Linnaeus, the Sri Lankan subspecies is the largest and the darkest among Asian elephants. Patches of depigmented areas with no skin color on the ears, face, trunk, and belly morphologically differentiate it from the others. The elephant population in Sri Lanka is now limited to smaller areas and protected under Sri Lankan la...
Strobilanthes sripadensis, a new species of Acanthaceae from Peak Wilderness Nature Reserve, Sri Lanka is described and illustrated. Both morphological and palynological evidence clearly indicate that S. sripadensis is a distinct species. The new species is closely related to S. pentandra, but differs by having short acuminate leaf apex, entire or...
The flora of Horton plains national park (HPNP), the highest plateau and cloud forest
in Sri Lanka, was investigated and an annonated list of constituent species was compiled. The order of
families, genera and species is alphabetic and the nomenclature follows Redlist, 2020 and Plants of the
World Online. A brief description, distribution, phenolog...
Strobilanthes glandulata, a new species of Acanthaceae is described from Sri Lanka. It has been previously misidentified as Strobilanthes lupulina. It is similar to S. lupulina having an inflorescence of heads, funnel-shaped gradually widened corolla, hispids on the stem, and both surfaces of leaves and petioles, but can be easily distinguished fro...
The Sri Lankan Leopard ( Panthera pardus kotiya ) is an endangered subspecies restricted to isolated and fragmented populations in Sri Lanka. Among them, the melanistic leopards have been recorded on rare occasions. The existing literature suggests that melanism evolved several times in the Felidae family, with three separate species revealing dist...
Citation: Wattegedera, M.; Silva, D.; Sooriyabandara, C.; Wimaladasa, P.; Siriwardena, R.; Piyasena, M.; Marasinghe, R.M.S.L.R.P.; Hathurusinghe, B.M.; Nilanthi, R.M.R.; Gunawardena, S.; et al. A Multi-Point Identification Approach for the Recognition of Individual Leopards (Panthera pardus kotiya). Animals 2022, 12, 660. https://
WILDLANKA is a peer-reviewed international journal which issues four volumes per year. Papers are reviewed by a panel of experts comprised of nationally and internationally renowned scientists. It provides an opportunity to wildlife researchers, scientists, academics, postdoctoral fellows, undergraduate students and other experts to publish their a...
Strobilanthes Blume (Acanthaceae) is one of the largest genera in the flora of Sri Lanka and is most interesting for its diversified habits, gregarious occurrence, and elegant flowering. Approximately 450 Strobilanthes species are widely distributed in the tropical and subtropical parts of Asia. Wood recognized 30 Strobilanthes species in Sri Lanka...
Strobilanthes medahinnensis, a new species of Acanthaceae is described and illustrated from Sri Lanka. The new species is similar to S. anceps in having ovate leaves, yellow gland dots of abaxial leaf surface and reflexed bracts but differs by rounded stem, leaves with acuminate apex, elongated spikes, lanceolate outermost bract with long acuminate...
Asian elephant (Elephas maximus) plays a significant role in natural ecosystems and it is considered as an endangered animal. Molecular genetics studies on elephants’ dates back to 1990s. Microsatellite markers have been the preferred choice and have played a major role in ecological, evolutionary and conservation research on elephants over the pas...
A two week survey was conducted in dry season of 2019 covering the entire area of the proposed problem elephant rehabilitation center (PERC) about the seven taxonomic groups (Vascular Plants, Birds, Mammals, Reptiles, Amphibians, Butterflies and Dragonflies). Hitherto any systematic survey has not been done in the study area previously. A total of...
Thirty three species of Strobilanthes BLUME in Sri Lanka and varieties of some species are illustrated with information on distribution pattern, elevation range, habitat and distinguishing characters useful for individual identification. All species have a rather restricted distribution in undisturbed montane and sub-montane forests and lowland rai...
Strobilanthes is the most species-rich genus coming under Family Acanthaceae which was first described by Blume (1826) from specimens collected in West Java. This is one of the largest and interesting genera in the flora of Sri Lanka. Strobilanthes is widely distributed over tropical South and South East Asia and individual species are restricted t...
Butterflies select specific plant species to lay their eggs and the larval stage completely depends on the particular host plant to complete their life cycle. The distribution of butterflies in the island is governed principally by climate, topography and vegetation types. Some species are distributed island-wide, with differences in their relative...
The Department of Wildlife Conservation (DWC), the entity which is entrusted with the mandate to conserve fauna and flora of the country, manages 14% of total land area of Sri Lanka, which is designated as Protected Areas (PA) under the Fauna and Flora Protection Ordinance (FFPO). Conservation of biodiversity and non destructive uses of wildlife re...
Wild rice species are considered to be a rich source of genes for pest and disease resistance as well as some abiotic stresses such as tolerance for certain adverse soil conditions. It is important to collect and conserve the maximum genetic richness of the local wild rice germplasm. For this, analysis of genetic diversity can only provide necessar...
