Saturday, August 27, 2016

Sri Lanka wolf snake (Lycodon carinatus)

Scales are identical in size and keeled.

English: Sri Lanka wolf snake
Binomial: Lycodon carinatus
Sinhala: දාර රදනකයා[Dara Radanakaya]

Sri Lanka wolf snake is an endemic and nocturnal species of snakes found in Sri Lanka. They mainly live in lowland wet and submontane zones and prefer damp forest areas. Above photographed one also found while it was in a wet place of the forest ground. This species is non-venomous. But it greatly mimics deadly venomous Sri Lankan krait in morphology and coloration. This snake has identically sized rough scales on the back and those have been keeled. But Kraits have large hexagonal line of scales running down the spine and the body of the Krait is shiny compared to the Sri Lankan wolf snake.

Referaces: 
  •  L. J Mendis Wickramasinghe: Recognizing Deadly Venomous Snakes form Harmless Snakes of Sri Lanka – Dilmah conservation
  •  Richira Somaweera : Snakes of Sri Lanka[in Sinhala]

Tuesday, August 23, 2016

Cleisostoma tenuifolium


Binomial Name: Cleisostoma tenuifolium

C. tenuifolium is a wild orchid found in lowland wet zone forests of Sri Lanka. In addition to that, the same species has been recorded in India and Thailand. Above photographs were taken at Meethirigala forest reserve in August.

Reference: An Annotated Checklist of the Orchids of Sri Lanka, Samantha Suranjan Fernando and Paul Ormerod

Friday, August 19, 2016

Ana Mia's Shadowdamsel (Ceylonosticta anamia)


English: Ana Mia's Shadowdamsel
Binomial: Ceylonosticta anamia

Ana Mia's Shadowdamsel is an endemic species of damselflies found in the wet zone forests of Sri Lanka. Its orange-yellowish colored prothorax is an easy identification method for this shadowdamsel. Above photographed ones were found in Kalugala and Meethirigala forests.

Reference: Dragonflies of Sri Lanka - Matjaž Bedjaniè, Karen Conniff, Gehan de Silva Wijeyeratne

Sunday, August 14, 2016

Plum Judy (Abisara echerius)


English: Plum Judy
Binomial: Abisara echerius

Plum Judy is a butterfly belongs to Riodinidae and they have been distributed in many Asian countries including Sri Lanka. This butterfly is always found in the forest and common in lower elevations.