scholarly journals Rediscovery of the Sri Lankan ‘house gecko’ Hemidactylus pieresii Kelaart (Reptilia: Gekkonidae) with a redescription of Hemidactylus depressus Gray

Zootaxa ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 3359 (1) ◽  
pp. 17 ◽  
Author(s):  
SUDESH BATUWITA ◽  
ROHAN PETHIYAGODA
Keyword(s):  
Sri Lanka ◽  
Type Locality ◽  
Sri Lankan ◽  
Body Colour ◽  
Peninsular India ◽  
General Body

Hemidactylus pieresii Kelaart, a species first described from Kandy, Sri Lanka, in 1852 but not recorded since, is redescribedfrom two recently-discovered populations, one at the type locality and another in the rainforests of the island’s south-westernlowlands. It is shown to be similar to H. depressus (in the synonymy of which it has been since 1935), from which it is distin-guished by the possession of 53–58 (vs. 35–41) paravertebral tubercles, 17–19 (vs. 13–16) longitudinal rows of middorsaltubercles, possessing relatively small (vs. large) and closely (vs. widely) spaced middorsal tubercles, 1–3 (vs. no) postcloacalspurs, chocolate-brown (vs. light brown) coloration in life, and nape with distinct black longitudinal stripes (vs. without blackstripes). Hemidactylus pieresii, a member of the H. brooki group, is distinguished from all species of Hemidactylus in Sri Lankaand peninsular India by the combination of the following additional characters: maximum snout-vent length 79.2 mm; ventralscales across midbody, 32–39; dorsal scales heterogeneous; ventral scales smooth, with 3 serrae; precloacal-femoral pores17–20 on each side, separated mesially by 1–3 poreless scales; subcaudals smooth, the median row enlarged; supralabials toangle of jaws, 11 or 12; subdigital lamellae on digit IV of pes, 10 or 11; general body colour chocolate-brown; nape with dis-tinct black longitudinal stripes. The identity of H. pieresii is stabilized through the designation of a neotype. Unlike most otherspecies of Hemidactylus, H. pieresii appears to be restricted to rainforests. Hemidactylus depressus is also redecribed from freshly collected material from Sri Lanka and its syntype BMNH RR1962.190 (65.6 mm SVL) is designated lectotype.

The Sri Lankan spiny eel, Macrognathus pentophthalmos (Teleostei: Mastacembelidae), and its enigmatic decline

Zootaxa ◽  
2008 ◽  
Vol 1931 (1) ◽  
pp. 37-48 ◽  
Author(s):  
ROHAN PETHIYAGODA ◽  
ANJANA SILVA ◽  
KALANA MADUWAGE ◽  
LALITH KARIYAWASAM
Keyword(s):  
Sri Lanka ◽  
Standard Length ◽  
Distinct Species ◽  
Junior Synonym ◽  
Type Locality ◽  
Sri Lankan ◽  
East Indies ◽  
Precipitous Decline

The Sri Lankan population of the spiny eel previously assigned to Macrognathus aral Schneider (Teleostei: Mastacembelidae) is shown to be a distinct species, for which the name M. pentophthalmos Gronow is available. Macrognathus pentophthalmos is distinguished from its closest congener, M. aral, by having 14–16 dorsal spines and a pre-dorsal length of 43.3–46.8% of standard length (SL) (vs. dorsal spines 18–22 and pre-dorsal length 35.5–40.8% SL in M. aral). Macrognathus pentophthalmos differs from its only other Indian congener, M. guentheri Day, among other characters, by having 24 pairs of rostral tooth plates (vs. rostral tooth plates absent). With the present designation of a neotype, Rhynchobdella orientalis Bloch & Schneider (type locality East Indies to Sri Lanka) becomes an objective junior synonym of M. aculeatus Bloch. Although assessed as ‘common’ in 1980, the population of M. pentophthalmos suffered a precipitous decline in the following decade, the causes of which are unknown. The species may now be extinct.

scholarly journals The identity of the Sri Lankan Amblypharyngodon (Teleostei, Cyprinidae)

ZooKeys ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 820 ◽  
pp. 25-49 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hiranya Sudasinghe ◽  
Rohan Pethiyagoda ◽  
Kalana Maduwage ◽  
Madhava Meegaskumbura
Keyword(s):  
Sri Lanka ◽  
Single Species ◽  
Genetic Distances ◽  
Coi Gene ◽  
Sri Lankan ◽  
Body Depth ◽  
Peninsular India ◽  
Climatic Zones ◽  
Caudal Vertebrae ◽  
Eye Diameter

Morphological and molecular analyses of specimens representative of the geographic range of the cyprinid genus Amblypharyngodon in Sri Lanka suggest the presence of only a single species in the island, for which the name Amblypharyngodongrandisquamis Jordan & Starks, 1917, is available. Amblypharyngodongrandisquamis is a species endemic to Sri Lanka, distributed across the lowlands of both of the island’s main climatic zones. It is distinguished from all other species of Amblypharyngodon, including the three species recorded from peninsular India (A.mola, A.microlepis, and A.melettinus), by a suite of characters that includes a body depth of 26.9–31.2% of the standard length (SL), 42–56 scales in the lateral series (of which usually 8–16 are pored), 20–24 circumpeduncular scales, 14–17 scale rows between the origins of the dorsal and pelvic fins, a dorsal-fin height of 21.1–27.6% SL, 18–19 caudal vertebrae and an eye diameter of 22.7–30.5% of the head length. Amblypharyngodongrandisquamis differs from A.melettinus and A.mola by uncorrected pairwise genetic distances of more than 9% and 6%, respectively, for the mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase subunit 1 (COI) gene.

A new species of Schistura (Teleostei: Nemacheilidae) from the south-western lowlands of Sri Lanka

Zootaxa ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 4422 (4) ◽  
pp. 478 ◽  
Author(s):  
HIRANYA SUDASINGHE
Keyword(s):  
New Species ◽  
Sri Lanka ◽  
Lateral Line ◽  
Sri Lankan ◽  
The South ◽  
Peninsular India ◽  
Dorsal Fin ◽  
Fin Rays ◽  
A New Species

Schistura scripta, new species, is described from Nakiyadeniya in the south-western lowlands of Sri Lanka. It can be distinguished from all other congeners from Sri Lankan and peninsular India by the combination of the following characters: an incomplete lateral line with 53–76 pores, ending beneath the dorsal-fin base or slightly beyond; 7–13 post-dorsal bars; 7½ branched dorsal-fin rays; absence of an axillary pelvic lobe; and absence of a suborbital flap. 

The Role of Music and Allied Arts in Public Writings on Cultural Diversity: “People of Sri Lanka”

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. 93-100
Author(s):  
Gisa Jähnichen
Keyword(s):  
Sri Lanka ◽  
Cultural Diversity ◽  
South Asia ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Sri Lankan ◽  
Culturally Different ◽  
The World ◽  
Official Languages ◽  
The Way

The Sri Lankan Ministry of National Coexistence, Dialogue, and Official Languages published the work “People of Sri Lanka” in 2017. In this comprehensive publication, 21 invited Sri Lankan scholars introduced 19 different people’s groups to public readers in English, mainly targeted at a growing number of foreign visitors in need of understanding the cultural diversity Sri Lanka has to offer. This paper will observe the presentation of these different groups of people, the role music and allied arts play in this context. Considering the non-scholarly design of the publication, a discussion of the role of music and allied arts has to be supplemented through additional analyses based on sources mentioned by the 21 participating scholars and their fragmented application of available knowledge. In result, this paper might help improve the way facts about groups of people, the way of grouping people, and the way of presenting these groupings are displayed to the world beyond South Asia. This fieldwork and literature guided investigation should also lead to suggestions for ethical principles in teaching and presenting of culturally different music practices within Sri Lanka, thus adding an example for other case studies.

Blood Pressure values of Sri Lankan Tamils in Jaffna District, Sri Lanka

2015 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 66-71
Author(s):  
Balasubramaniam M ◽  
◽  
Sivapalan K ◽  
Tharsha J ◽  
Sivatharushan V ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Blood Pressure ◽  
Sri Lanka ◽  
Sri Lankan ◽  
Sri Lankan Tamils

scholarly journals Sri Lanka: Physical Reconstruction and Economic Development as Conflict Prevention Factors

2013 ◽  
Vol 19 (69) ◽  
pp. 55-76
Author(s):  
Boženko Đevoić
Keyword(s):  
Economic Development ◽  
Sri Lanka ◽  
External Pressure ◽  
Power Sharing ◽  
Sri Lankan ◽  
Conflict Prevention ◽  
Prevention Measures ◽  
Postconflict Reconstruction ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
The Government

ABSTRACT This article gives an overview of the 26 year long ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka and examines physical reconstruction and economic development as measures of conflict prevention and postconflict reconstruction. During the years of conflict, the Sri Lankan government performed some conflict prevention measures, but most of them caused counter effects, such as the attempt to provide “demilitarization”, which actually increased militarization on both sides, and “political power sharing” that was never honestly executed. Efforts in post-conflict physical reconstruction and economic development, especially after 2009, demonstrate their positive capacity as well as their conflict sensitivity. Although the Sri Lankan government initially had to be forced by international donors to include conflict sensitivity in its projects, more recently this has changed. The government now practices more conflict sensitivity in its planning and execution of physical reconstruction and economic development projects without external pressure.

Grasping at Straws: Judicial Review of Legislation in Sri Lanka

ICL Journal ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 281-306
Author(s):  
Danushka S Medawatte
Keyword(s):  
Sri Lanka ◽  
Transitional Justice ◽  
Judicial Review ◽  
Descriptive Analysis ◽  
Executive Power ◽  
Sri Lankan ◽  
Legal Literature ◽  
Justice Process ◽  
Provincial Councils ◽  
The Impact

AbstractIn this paper, I attempt to examine the evolution of judicial review of legislation in Sri Lanka with a view to better understanding how it has impacted the democratic fabric and constitutional matrix of Sri Lanka. The impact that judicial review of legislation has had on rights jurisprudence, enhancement of democracy, prevention of persecution against selected groups are analysed in this paper in relation to the Ceylon Constitutional Order in Council of 1946 (‘Soulbury’ Constitution) and the two autochthonous constitutions of Sri Lanka of 1972 and 1978. The first part of the paper comprises of a descriptive analysis of judicial review of legislation under the three Constitutions. This is expected to perform a gap filling function in respect of the lacuna that exists in Sri Lankan legal literature in relation to the assessment of the trends pertaining to judicial review of legislation in Sri Lanka. In the second part of the paper, I have analysed decided cases of Sri Lanka to explore how the judiciary has responded to legislative and executive power, and has given up or maintained judicial independence. In this respect, I have also attempted to explore whether the judiciary has unduly engaged in restraint thereby impeding its own independence. The third part of the paper evaluates the differences in technique and stance the judiciary has adopted when reviewing draft enactments of the national legislature and when reviewing draft or enacted statutes of Provincial Councils. From a comparative constitutional perspective, this assessment is expected to provide the background that is essential in understanding the island nation’s current constitutional discourse, transitional justice process, and its approach to human rights.

Securing the Sasana through Law: Buddhist constitutionalism and Buddhist-interest litigation in Sri Lanka

2016 ◽  
Vol 50 (6) ◽  
pp. 1966-2008 ◽  
Author(s):  
BENJAMIN SCHONTHAL
Keyword(s):  
Sri Lanka ◽  
Sri Lankan ◽  
Legal Activism ◽  
Liberal Constitutionalism

AbstractThis article examines the history and effects of Buddhist constitutionalism in Sri Lanka, by which is meant the inclusion of special protections and status for Buddhism in the island's 1972 and 1978 constitutions, alongside guarantees of general religious rights and other features of liberal constitutionalism. By analysing Sri Lankan constitutional disputes that have occurred since the 1970s, this article demonstrates how the ‘Buddhism Chapter’ of Sri Lanka's constitution has given citizens potent opportunities and incentives for transforming specific disagreements and political concerns into abstract contests over the nature of Buddhism and the state's obligations to protect it. Through this process, a culture of Buddhist legal activism and Buddhist-interest litigation has taken shape. This article also augments important theories about the work of ‘theocratic’ or religiously preferential constitutions and argues for an alternative, litigant-focused method of investigating them.

CHALLENGES AND CONSTRAINTS TO ENHANCE THE ENTREPRENEURSHIP EDUCATION IN HIGHER EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS OF A DEVELOPING COUNTRY: EVIDENCE FROM SRI LANKA

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (12) ◽  
pp. 13-26
Author(s):  
T.M.A. Tennakoon ◽  
Kennedy Gunawardena ◽  
S.P. Premaratne
Keyword(s):  
Developing Countries ◽  
Sri Lanka ◽  
Education System ◽  
Action Plan ◽  
Secondary Data ◽  
Entrepreneurship Education ◽  
Sri Lankan ◽  
Study Approach ◽  
Effective Strategies ◽  
Developed Nations

This study through an exploratory approach review the challenges and constraints faced in enhancing entrepreneurship education in developing countries using Sri Lanka as a case study. Previous studies on the subject matter is very scarce and even in international journals only few papers appeared on entrepreneurship education in developing countries. The purpose of this paper is to study the current entrepreneurship education system in Sri Lankan state universities with reference to challenges and constraints and to propose an action plan to raise entrepreneurship education in Sri Lanka to be in par with that of developed nations so that these universities can act as the centerpieces of business innovations and entrepreneurship development. This paper employs an exploratory study approach by analyzing current entrepreneurship education system in Sri Lanka by reviewing secondary data such as various journals and government publications to build the arguments and recommendations outlined. Among constraints and challenges for the development of entrepreneurship education, lack of resources, lack of entrepreneurial skills in lecturers, poor stake-holder engagement, weak government policies and industry � university gap are common to most developing countries. In addition with its free education policy, Sri Lankan universities are faced with strict university entrance procedures and lack of selection of desired courses for majority of students. Findings of this study and salient suggestions will be an invaluable toolkit for policy makers to design effective strategies for entrepreneurship education in developing countries.

Adoption of integrated reporting in Sri Lanka: coverage and trend

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Thilini Cooray ◽  
Samanthi Senaratne ◽  
Nuwan Gunarathne ◽  
Roshan Herath ◽  
Dileepa Neelangi Samudrage
Keyword(s):  
Sri Lanka ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
The Other ◽  
Sri Lankan ◽  
Legitimacy Theory ◽  
Integrated Reporting ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Disclosure Requirements ◽  
Comprehensive Index ◽  
Reporting Framework

Purpose This paper aims to examine the coverage of and trends in reporting content elements in the integrated reports of the Sri Lankan companies following the International Integrated Reporting Framework (IIRF). Design/methodology/approach Based on a comprehensive checklist developed on the content elements of the IIRF, 171 corporate integrated reports were content-analyzed over a period of three years. The results were theorized subsequently using the legitimacy theory. Findings The study identifies that the extent of and trend in the coverage of content elements of the IIRF have increased during the period under consideration despite some under-addressed areas. It indicates that Sri Lankan companies are making progress in the preparation of integrated reports in line with the IIRF, which provides evidence in support of both strategic and institutional perspectives of the legitimacy theory because of the proactive actions taken by managers to acquire legitimacy along with the other normative and mimetic pressures available in the IR landscape. Originality/value This is one of the first studies that evaluate the compliance of IR adopters with the IIRF overtime in the entirety of a single country. It also develops a comprehensive index to capture the disclosure requirements of IR and extends the analysis to a voluntary context using both strategic and institutional perspectives of the legitimacy theory.

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