27. Cyrtodactylus vedda

Amarasinghe, Karunarathna, Campbell, Gayan, Ranasinghe, de Silva & Mirza, 2022

Publication :

Amarasinghe AAT, S Karunarathna, PD Campbell, AKA Gayan, WDB Ranasinghe, A de Silva & ZA Mirza (2022). The hidden diversity and inland radiation of Sri Lanka’s ground-dwelling geckos of the genus Cyrtodactylus (Reptilia: Gekkonidae). Systematics & Biodiversity 20 (1): 1–25.

Remarks :

We discovered Cyrtodactylus vedda from eastern Sri Lanka. This species is allied to the Central highland species, Cyrtodactylus triedrus. Five species of ground dwelling Cyrtodactylus are now known from Sri Lanka.

Etymology:
The specific epithet refers to the “veddas”, a minority population of ancient aboriginal indigenous ethnic group of people living in the vicinity of the new species (e.g. Nilgala, Ratugala) in Sri Lanka is formed here as an invariable noun in apposition. Vedda clans are classified as a separate ethnic group. A clan of old descendants of the “rock veddas” or rock cave dwellers currently live in hamlets in Ratugala and Nilgala where probably the most established group of veddas in Sri Lanka still live (Osman Hill, 1932). However, some of them are now intermingled with the Sinhalese and Tamil ethnic groups. The original name for the vedda in Ratugala and Nilgala is “Danigala vedda” – they left the Danigala rock caves many years ago and settled in the Rathugla area.

English name: Veddas ground-gecko
Sinhala (local) name: වැදි බිම්-හූනා