New skink species found in SL

By Ifham Nizam

A team of Lankan scientists has decided to name a newly discovered a skink species from the central hills of the country after US herpetologist, Alan Resetar in honour of his contribution to the conservation of herpetofauna.

This species had previously been confused with two other species known in their binominal names Eutropis carinata and Eutropis beddomei, head of the team Lankan research team, Sudesh Batuwita told The Island yesterday.

The new species had been recorded from the highest elevations from about 1,000 metres to 1,600 metres in the Central Hills, Batuwita said. “We have decided to name it as Rutropis resetarii in recognition of the services rendered by US herpetologist Resetar to the field of herpetofauna studies,” said Batuwita, a taxonomist of the Society of Biodiversity Conservation committed to inventoring fauna (fish, reptiles and amphibians) and to provide baseline information to conserve species and their habitats.

Batuwita said Resetar of the Division of Amphibians and Reptiles, Field Museum of Natural History is known for his life long dedication to herpetology and his behind the scenes contributions to homalopsid snake research.

The team headed by Batuwita comprises scientists Sampath Udugampala and Udeni Edirisinghe.

The team was grateful to Prof. Aaron M. Bauer, Prof. Indraneil Das,  Dr. Ali Gholamifard and Dr. Frank Tillack for their enormous support for the work, Batuwita added.