Submitted date: 30 October 2009 Accepted date: 22 November 2009 Published date: 22 November 2009 Pp. 83–106, pls. 1–4.
THE ORIGINAL DESCRIPTIONS AND FIGURES OF SRI LANKAN GEKKONID LIZARDS (SQUAMATA : GEKKONIDAE OF THE 18TH AND 19TH CENTURIES
A.A. Thasun Amarasinghe*, Aaron M. Bauer, Ivan Ineich, John Rudge, Mohomed M. Bahir & Dinesh E. Gabadage *Corresponding author. E-mail: thasun.taprobanica@gmail.com
Abstract Forty-two species/subspecies belonging to eight genera of geckos, family geckonidae, are recognized from Sri Lanka. Twenty of these were described in the period from Linnaeu’s 10th edition of Systema Nature 1758 to 1953. We provide the original text of the descriptions, images of the type specimens, and translations to English of eight descriptions that were written in Dutch, French, German, and Latin.
Key words : English translation, taxonomy, type specimen, Sri Lanka
A. A. Thasun Amarasinghe Editor-in-chief: Taprobanica, the journal of Asian Biodiversity
Greek astronomer Ptolemy compiled a map in the 2nd century labeled the Island “Taprobane”. Arab seafarers called it “Serendib”. From the 1400s, Europeans identified that island as “Seylan”, which was later anglicized to “Ceylon”. In the 1500s Portugal and Spain established their dominance in the maritime trade of South and Southeast Asia. In the 1600s the Dutch emerged as the dominant colonial power in the region, followed in the 1700s by the British, then Independence Island after 1948 “Sri Lanka”. The island is situated in the Indian Ocean, south west of the Indian peninsula, between 79o 39’ and 81o 53’ Eastern longitudes and 5o 54’ and 9o 52’ Northern latitudes, and has a total land area of 65,610 km2. “Taprobane” was a historical name for Sri Lanka and we use the name “Taprobanica” for our society as well as for our journal. Taprobanica Nature Conservation Society (TNCS) is an independent, non-governmental, nonprofit oriented voluntary organization dedicated to promote research, public awareness and nature conservation and it was established in 2007.