Bioacoustics of Sri Lankan Amphibians: a Review of Current Knowledge and Conservation Significance

Acoustic inventory of Sri Lankan amphibians is still in a primitive stage. So far, only 20 amphibian species are known acoustically and are about 16% of the island amphibian fauna. Altogether, twelve publications provide primary acoustic characters, yet the majority of them are not quantitative. Bioacoustics is a powerful tool that can use in many disciplines, including taxonomy and conservation. This work emphasises that the current knowledge on the vocalisation of Sri Lankan amphibians is not adequate and highlighted its applications towards conservation and planning

Diurnal Behavior of Captive and Free-Ranging Asian Elephants (Elephas maximus): A Case Study in Sri Lanka and Implications for Captive Management.

Keeping elephants in captivity is a centuries-old practice in many countries including Sri Lanka. Although captive management of elephants is challenging, there are few studies that focus on species-specific indicators that can be used to improve the wellbeing of captive individuals. Behavioral observation is one indicator that can be used as a tool to explore the condition of captive animals. In this study, the diurnal behavior of captive and free ranging elephants, Elephas maximus was assessed. Observations were recorded for six free ranging elephants at Udawalawe National Park and three captive elephants (two at the National Zoological Garden, Dehiwala and one at Pallebedda). Instantaneous scan sampling at five minute intervals were carried out and several behaviors were recorded. Observations were recorded from 0900h to 1700h for a total of 120 hours. We tested whether feeding, resting, locomotion and comfort behaviors were different between captive and wild elephants using ANOVA (using arcsine transformed data of proportions of counts for each behavior type). Wild elephants spent significantly more time feeding (p=0.003) and resting (p=0.03) than captive elephants, while there was a similar trend in comfort behavior (p=0.05). There was no difference between wild and captive elephants in the time spent resting (p=0.15). Stereotypic behavior was only observed in captive elephants (50% of observed time). These results emphasize the contrasting behavior of the two groups and highlight the importance of behavioral studies in captive elephant management. Successful management programs should focus on changing behavioral patterns of captive elephants to more closely resemble those of free-ranging elephants.Keywords: Time budget, wild elephants, captive management, Asian elephan

Range Extension and Vocalisation of Endangered Shrub Frog, Pseudophilautus zorro (Amphibia: Rachophoridae) in Sri Lanka

Gannoruwa shrub frog, Pseudophilautus zorro, is an endemic species known only from four locations in and around Kandy, Gannoruwa forest, home gardens in Triverton estate, Hanthana and Udawaththakele forest reserves. Despite their cryptic nature calling males are conspicuous once identified their vocalisation. Hence, we describe their vocalisation and acoustic characters. We recorded P. zorro from Hanthana (80.6141° E, 7.2497° N; 700 m a.s.l.) and measured six common call characters of 92 calls from four males. We identified four call types based on wave form structure and spectrogram. Type 1 calls were the most frequently emitted call type (93% of 518 calls recorded) having the average call duration 5.1±1.2 mili-seconds. Vocalising frequency of the species ranged between 3,100 Hz and 3,600 Hz. During our field excursions in 2014-2017, we heard similar vocalisation in two sites well away from its known range, Katugasthota (80.6199° E, 7.3302° N; 470 m a.s.l) and Ovilikanda (80.5926° E, 7.4538° E; 470 m a.s.l). We confirm the identity as P. zorro using the morphological characters. Again, on 18th September, 2014 we sighted the species during an excursion to Kukulamalpotha (80.7819° E, 7.5527° N; 460 m a.s.l) in Knuckles reserve. Since the site was very far from the known range of P. zorro, we obtained toe tips from two individuals and confirm their identity genetically by having 0% uncorrected pairwise genetic distance for 16S gene fragment (~510 bp). With three new found locations their Extent of Occurrence and Area of Occupancy has been increased by 14 times (from 20 km2 to 291 km2) and by 2 times (from 16 km2 to 28 km2) respectively. New found populations considerably expanded the species-range and the knowledge of their vocalisation can further use to explore new populations. This study confirms that P. zorro is not restricted as previously thought.Keywords: New population, Bioacoustics, Shrub frogs, Extent of occurrenc

Systematic revision of Microhyla (Microhylidae) frogs of South Asia: a molecular, morphological, and acoustic assessment

This study presents a systematic revision of South Asian members of the taxonomically challenging genus Microhyla Tschudi, 1838. Species relationships and diagnostic characters are determined by integrating molecular, morphological, and acoustic approaches, through which we also recognize six groups of closely related species. In addition, a new species from the southern Western Ghats of India is formally described as Microhyla darreli sp. nov. Species accounts of all the 16 recognized members from South Asia include current taxonomic status, metric and meristic characters, divergence in mitochondrial DNA, phylogenetic relationships, acoustic characters, revised geographical distributions, and natural history notes. Molecular and morphological relationships of three poorly known members — M. chakrapanii, M. karunaratnei, and M. zeylanica — are clarified for the first time since their original descriptions. The presence of M. berdmorei and another potential new species close to M. heymonsi in India is genetically confirmed, and several misidentifications are corrected. For comparative purposes, molecular, morphological, and acoustic relationships are also discussed for eight closely related East and Southeast Asian species. Consequently, insights from this study will facilitate a much-needed comprehensive revision of the Pan-Asian frog genus Microhyla