Summary

With the recent advancements in systematics and taxonomic studies multiple criteria are being used in species delimitation. Morphology, morphometrics and molecular phylogenetics are major tools, which can be used to understand the taxonomic identities of reptiles.
Only a handful of research has been done on Agamid lizards in Sri Lanka and comprehensive phylogenetic analysis are lacking. But several Sri Lankan agamids have been used in a broad scale phylogenetic analyses in a context to understand the biogeographic history of the region (Macey et al. 2000). Surprisingly it is the only known published work, which involved a handful of agamid Sri Lankan lizards.
Even the recent literature of Sri Lankan agamids are restricted mostly to species descriptions (Pethiyagoda & Manamendra-Arachchi 1998; Bahir and Silva 2005; Bahir and Maduwage 2005; Samarawikrama et al 2006;
Amarasinghe et al 2014; Amarasinghe and Karunarathne 2014; Amarasinghe et al 2015). Only handful of studies have been done on habitat and behavior of several lizards namely, Ceratophora tennentii (Somaweera et al 2015), Ceratophora aspera (Milivoje et al 2015), Lyriocephalus scutatus (Karunarathne et al 2013), Calotes nigrilabis (Somaweera et al 2012) and Calotes liolepis (Karunarathne et al 2009). Further, the placement of two new species of Sitana by Amarasinghe et al 2015 seem to be unstable and has been doubted by several herpetologists (Deepak and Karanth 2018; Sadasivan et al 2018).
Strong and stable taxonomic platform provide the foundation for conservation. So good taxonomic work is essential for effective conservation planning. Through this study we review the taxonomic identities aiming to fully resolve the taxonomic problems.
The results of this study can be use effectively by the government institutions (department of wildlife conservation, Forest department, Ministry of Environment, Ministry of tourism development) private sectors who involved in biodiversity conservation (Eg. Dilmah, Jetwing ) and Non-government organizations (eg. IUCN, EFL).

Objectives

1.  A rigorous phylogenetic analysis involving multiple genes for each species to determine their position in relation to the world Agamid phylogeny, so that higher level taxonomy, biogeography and the periods of diversification for these species can be ascertained.
2. A rigorous barcoding analysis using multiple populations from each species so that the new species and evolutionarily significant units can be identified and the geographic context of the diversification can be understood.
3. Predictive distribution for all 21 Agamid species will be modeled. These models will help understand the climatic context of their distributions and also be used as a criterion in designating independent evolutionary lineages. This information is also useful in delineating priority areas for their conservation and will be useful to identify the new locations and populations of these species.

Major Equipment Facilitated by Grant