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| Environment Sri Lanka > Biodiversity | |
Birds
of Sri Lanka - Picture Gallery
Sri Lankan Wild Fauna and Flora - Picture
Gallery
Ecosystem Diversity
Threatened Plants of Sri Lanka
Checklist of Mammals of Sri Lanka
Sinharaja Forest
Biological diversity of Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka is an island, 65,610 km2 in area situated close to the Southeast corner of the peninsula of India. Despite its relatively small size, Sri Lanka possesses a high level of bioddiversity. A nortworthy feature of Sri Lanka's biodiversity is the remarkable high proportion of endemic species among its flora and fauna: 23% of the flowering plants and 16% of the mammals in the island are endemic. Sri Lanka has a wide range of topographic and climatic variation and this contributes to the special features of its biodiversity.
Flora - Number of species described to date in Sri Lanka
| Group | Number of described species | Percentage endemism |
| Algae | 866 | NA |
| Fungi | 1,920 | NA |
| Lichens | 110 | 35 |
| Mosses | 575 | NA |
| Liverwoths | 190 | NA |
| Ferns and Fern allies | 314 | 18 |
| Gymnosperms | 1 | 0 |
| Angiosperms (Flowering plants) | 3,350 | 23 |
Fauna - Number of species described to date in Sri Lanka
| Group | Number of described species | Percentage endemism |
| Protista (One celled animals) | 40+ | NA |
| Rotifera | 140+ | NA |
| Anthozoa (Corals) | 171 | NA |
| Annelida (Earthworms and Leeches) | 18 | NA |
| Monogenea (Flatworms) | 23+ | NA |
| Crustacea (Prawns, crabs and allies) | 400 | NA |
| Mollusca (snails and allies) | 325 | NA |
| INSECTA | ||
| Mayflies | 18 | 100 |
| Mosquitoes | 139 | NA |
| Beetles | 540 | 23 |
| Butterflies | 242+ | 6 |
| Arachnida (Spiders) | 400+ | NA |
| Pisces - Coastal fish | 400+ | NA |
| Pisces - Freshwater fish | 61 | 39 |
| Amphibia (Frogs and Toads) | 48 | 52 |
| Reptilia (Reptiles) | 162 | 43 |
| Aves (Birds) | 441 | 5 |
| Mammalia (Mammals) | 90 | 16 |
Sri Lanka: One of 25 World's Biodiversity Hot Spots
Sri Lanka has been identified by the environment activist group Conservation International (CI) as one of 25 biodiversity hot spots in the world, reported the Time weekly in its January 11 issue.
These hot spots could have maximum benefit by preservation efforts, the magazine said in a cover story titled "Heroes for the Planet: Earth Angles". The U.S.-based CI said that together with Western India, Sri Lanka, the island in the Indian ocean, accounts for 2,180 plant species that are unique to each hot spot.
Sri Lanka's tropical rain forest ecosystem is considered as an area which is disturbed by human activity, but still exceptionally rich in animal and plant species found nowhere else.
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