Sri Lanka is home to 21 endemic mammals. 91 terrestrial mammals have been recorded from the country. Additionally there are 28 marine mammals in the oceans surrounding the island. Being an island, Sri Lanka lacks the land area to support large animals. However, fossil evidence of large archaic species of rhinoceroses, hippopotamuses, and lions have been discovered. The flora and fauna of Sri Lanka is mostly understudied. Therefore, the number of endemics could be underestimated. All three endemic genera Solisorex, Feroculus and Srilankamys, of Sri Lanka are monotypic.
The endemic status of two Sri Lankan shrews have undergone changes, as they have been reported in India recently. The Kelaart's long-clawed shrew (Feroculus feroculus) and the Sri Lanka highland shrew (Suncus montanus) were recorded from southern India. At the same time, taxonomic revisions have indicated that the flame-striped jungle squirrel (Funambulus layardi), the red slender loris (Loris tardigradus) and two species of mouse deer, Moschiola meminna and M. kathygre are endemic to Sri Lanka. That leaves the number of endemic mammals in Sri Lanka at 16. A group of researchers described a shrew species Crocidura hikmiya from the Sinharaja Forest Reserve in 2007. That discovery left the ultimate number of endemics at 21 at present.
For Sri Lanka, small mammals are of special importance as they constitute a notable portion of the mammalian fauna of the country. Of the 91 species of mammals recorded in the country, 31 are rodents and shrews. Furthermore, they are also of significant importance to biology, as they make up a large part of the country's endemic faunal component. The endemic small mammals include six rodents and four shrews. Many of these endemic species are found in fragmented rainforests in southwestern Sri Lanka, which are highly vulnerable to habitat destruction. As a result, many of these species have been categorised as threatened or endangered at the national level.
Endemic mammals Most endemic mammals are small nocturnal mammals that are seen rarely.
Low vulnerabilityThreatenedLeast concernNear threatenedVulnerableEndangered
Order Primate: primates NameSpecies authorityRed List Family Lorisidae: lorisesRed slender lorisLoris tardigradus(Linnaeus, 1758) Family Cercopithecidae: Old World monkeysToque macaqueMacaca sinica(Linnaeus, 1771)Purple-faced langurTrachypithecus vetulus(Erxleben, 1777)
Order Rodentia: rodents NameSpecies authorityRed List Family Sciuridae: squirrelsLayard's palm squirrelFunambulus layardi(Blyth, 1849)Dusky palm squirrelFunambulus obscurus(Waterhouse, 1838) Family Muridae: Old World rats and miceMayor's mouseMus mayori(Thomas, 1915)Ceylon spiny mouseMus fernandoni(Phillips, 1932)Nillu ratRattus montanusPhillips, 1932Ohiya ratSrilankamys ohiensis(Phillips, 1929)Nolthenius's long-tailed climbing mouseVandeleuria noltheniiPhillips, 1929
Order Soricomorpha: shrews and moles NameSpecies authorityRed List Family Soricidae: shrewsSri Lankan long-tailed shrewCrocidura miyaPhillips, 1929Sinharaja shrewCrocidura hikmiyaMeegaskumbura, Meegaskumbura, Manamendra-Arachchi, Pethiyagoda, & Schneider, 2007Pearson's long-clawed shrewSolisorex pearsoniThomas, 1924Jungle shrewSuncus zeylanicusPhillips, 1928Sri Lankan shrewSuncus fellowesgordoniPhillips, 1932
Order Carnivora: carnivorans NameSpecies authorityRed List Family Viverridae: civetsGolden palm civetParadoxurus zeylonensis(Pallas, 1778)Golden dry zone palm civetParadoxurus stenocephalusgroves et al., 2009Sri Lanka brown palm civetParadoxurus montanusKelaart, 1852
Order Artiodactyla: even-toed ungulates NameSpecies authorityRed List Family Tragulidae: chevrotainsSri Lankan spotted chevrotainMoschiola meminnaErxleben, 1777Yellow-striped chevrotainMoschiola kathygreGroves & Meijaard, 2005
References