Rohan Pethiyagoda

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Rohan Pethiyagoda
Rohan Pethiyagoda.JPG
Born
Tilak Rohan David Pethiyagoda

(1955-11-19) 19 November 1955 (age 67)
Colombo, Sri Lanka
NationalitySri Lankan
Education BSc, M.Phil.
Alma mater S. Thomas' College, Mount Lavinia, King's College, London, University of Sussex
Occupation Taxonomist
Years active1990–present
Employer Australian Museum
Notable workFreshwater fishes of Sri Lanka (1990)
Pearls, spices and green gold: an illustrated history of biodiversity exploration in Sri Lanka (2007)
Horton Plains: Sri Lanka's cloud-forest national park (2012)
The Ecology and Biogeography of Sri Lanka: A Context for Freshwater Fishes (2021)
Awards Vadamarachchi Medal, 1987 , Rolex Award for Enterprise, 2000 , The Linnean Medal, 2022
Website The Wildlife Heritage Trust of Sri Lanka [ dead link ]

Rohan David Pethiyagoda is a Sri Lankan biodiversity scientist, amphibian and freshwater-fish taxonomist, author, conservationist and public-policy advocate.

Contents

Early life and career

Born in Colombo, Sri Lanka, 19 November 1955 Pethiyagoda had his secondary education at S. Thomas' College, Mount Lavinia. He was awarded a BSc (Eng.) Hons. in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from King's College, University of London in 1977, and a M.Phil. in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Sussex in 1980. [1]

Service

From 1981 to 1982 Pethiyagoda served as an engineer in the Division of Biomedical Engineering of the Sri Lankan Ministry of Health, and from 1982 to 1987 as director of that institution. That same year he was awarded the Vadamarachchi Medal by President J.R. Jayewardene for his services to the Sri Lanka Armed Forces during the Vadamarachchi Campaign. [2] In 1984 he was concurrently appointed chairman of Sri Lanka's Water Resources Board. He served as Advisor on Environment and Natural resources to the Government of Sri Lanka from 2002 to 2004 and was in 2005 elected Deputy Chair of the IUCN Species Survival Commission. [3] In 2008 Pethiyagoda was elected to the board of trustees of the International Trust for Zoological Nomenclature, having previously served a four-year term as Deputy Chair of the Assurance Group of the British American Tobacco Biodiversity Partnership. In 2009 he was appointed a Research Associate of the Australian Museum, Sydney, [4] and from 2015 to 2018 he served as Chairman of the Sri Lanka Tea Board. [5] On 22 June 2022, Pethiyagoda was appointed Senior Policy Adviser to Sajith Premadasa, MP, Leader of the Opposition of Sri Lanka. [6]

Naturalist life

He resigned from government office in 1987 to commence work on a project to explore the island's freshwater fishes, [7] which led to his first book in 1990, Freshwater fishes of Sri Lanka, [1] an illustrated account of the country's freshwater-fish fauna. [8]

Pethiyagoda diverted the profits from this book to an endowment for the Wildlife Heritage Trust (WHT), a foundation he established in 1990 to further biodiversity exploration in Sri Lanka, with the business-model of publishing natural-history books and channeling the proceeds into further exploration and research. [7] Between 1991 and 2012 WHT published some 40 books in both English and Sinhala, including titles such as A field guide to the birds of Sri Lanka, [9] one of several titles translated into Sinhala and, aided by a grant from the Biodiversity Window of the World Bank / Netherlands Partnership Programme, provided free to 5,000 school libraries. [10] [11] [12] [13] This program aimed, for the first time in Sri Lanka, to put scientific local-language biodiversity texts in the hands of young people. [14] Pethiyagoda has also been outspoken in his advocacy of policy reform in Sri Lanka, writing on subjects such as biopiracy, [15] abortion [16] and sexual ethics [17] in the media, in addition to lecture-videos on diverse topics including nutrition, agricultural policy, and economic and political reform. [18]

Discoveries

Together with colleagues at WHT Pethiyagoda has been responsible for the discovery and/or description of almost 100 new species of vertebrates from Sri Lanka, including fishes, [1] [19] amphibians [13] [20] and lizards, [21] [22] in addition to 43 species of freshwater crabs. [23] This work also led to the finding that some 19 species of Sri Lankan amphibians have become extinct in the past 130 years, [20] the highest national extinction record in the world. [24]

Recognition

In 1998, concerned by the rapid loss of montane forest in Sri Lanka, Pethiyagoda began a (still on-going) project to convert abandoned tea plantations into natural forest, [25] for which he was honoured by the Rolex Awards for Enterprise. [7] [26]

In 2022, he received the Linnean Medal from the Linnean Society of London, becoming the first Sri Lankan and only the second Asian to receive this award since its inception in 1888. [27]

In recognition of his contribution to biodiversity conservation Pethiyagoda was elected a Fellow of the National Academy of Sciences of Sri Lanka. [28] In addition to some 60 papers in the scientific literature, [29] his most recently published books are on the history of natural-history exploration in Sri Lanka, [30] Sri Lankan primates, [31] Horton Plains National Park [32] and the biogeography of Sri Lanka. [33] He is a Research Associate of the Australian Museum [34] and serves as editor for Asian Freshwater Fishes of the journal Zootaxa . [35]

Legacy

Several new species have been named in his honour, including the fishes Dawkinsia rohani [36] and Rasboroides rohani ; [37] the microhylid frog Uperodon rohani [38] [39] ; the dragon lizard Calotes pethiyagodai ; [40] the jumping spider Onomastus pethiyagodai [41] and the dragonfly Macromidia donaldi pethiyagodai . [42] In 2020, a team of scientists led by S. D. Biju named a new genus of South and Southeast Asian tree frogs Rohanixalus in Pethiyagoda's honour. [43] [44]

In July 2012 Pethiyagoda and colleagues named a genus of South Asian freshwater fishes Dawkinsia in honour of the evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins, [45] following which Pethiyagoda told AFP that "Richard Dawkins has through his writings helped us understand that the universe is far more beautiful and awe-inspiring than any religion has imagined". [46] Pethiyagoda also named the freshwater cyprinid genus Haludaria [47] after the Begali youth known only as Haludar, who illustrated the fishes depicted in Francis Hamilton's (1822) "Fishes of the Ganges", the founder work of Indian ichthyology.

Taxa described by Pethiyagoda

Related Research Articles

<i>Philautus</i> Genus of amphibians

Philautus is a genus of shrub frogs in the family Rhacophoridae from Asia. Some species in this genus are now considered extinct by IUCN, while others are widespread and abundant. The taxonomy of the group is unclear, with many poorly described species.

<i>Adenomus</i> Genus of amphibians

Adenomus is a small genus of true toads, with only two species, endemic to Sri Lanka. Adenomus kandianus was considered as extinct for 133 years, but was rediscovered in October 2009 in the Kandy area.

<i>Adenomus kandianus</i> Species of amphibian

Adenomus kandianus is a species of toad in the family Bufonidae endemic to Sri Lanka. It is a high-altitude species known only from few localities. The specific name kandianus means "from Kandy" and seems to suggest that the type material came from near the city of Kandy.

Uperodon nagaoi, also known as the Nagao's pug-snout frog or Nagao's globular frog, is a species of frogs in the family Microhylidae. It is endemic to Sri Lanka and is known from the Central, Sabaragamuwa, Southern, and Western Provinces. The specific name nagaoi honours Eijiro Nagao, president of Marusan Securities who, through the Nagao Environmental Foundation, has supported research on Sri Lankan amphibians.

<i>Pseudophilautus auratus</i> Species of frog

Pseudophilautus auratus, commonly called Golden shrub frog, is a species of frog in the family Rhacophoridae, endemic to Sri Lanka.

<i>Pseudophilautus variabilis</i> Extinct species of amphibian

Pseudophilautus variabilis, also known as the variable bush frog or variable bubble-nest frog, is a species of frog in the family Rhacophoridae. This now extinct species was endemic to Sri Lanka. Despite extensive searches in recent times, it is only known from collections prior to 1858. The reasons for its disappearance are unknown but probably involve habitat loss.

Pethia cumingii, known as the Cuming's barb or the two spot barb, is a species of cyprinid fish endemic to Sri Lanka.

Pethia reval, the red-finned barb, is a species of cyprinid fish endemic to Sri Lanka. This species can reach a length of 3.4 centimetres (1.3 in) SL.

<i>Dawkinsia srilankensis</i> Species of fish

Dawkinsia srilankensis, the blotched filamented barb, is a species of ray-finned fish in the genus Dawkinsia. This species is endemic to the Kalu River in Sri Lanka and it is in imminent danger of going extinct due to tailings from upstream mines and potentially also capture for the aquarium trade. It was bred recently in the Dehiwala Zoological Gardens.

Pseudophilautus pardus is an extinct species of Sri Lankan shrub frogs in the family Rhacophoridae. Despite extensive surveys in recent years, the species is known only from a collection made prior to 1858. The reason for its extinction is unknown but probably relates loss of forests.

<i>Pseudophilautus</i> Genus of amphibians

Pseudophilautus is a genus of shrub frogs in the family Rhacophoridae endemic to the Western Ghats of southwestern India and to Sri Lanka where the majority of the species are found. Many of them are already extinct. On the other, some species believed to be extinct have also been rediscovered.

Taruga is a genus of frogs endemic to Sri Lanka. They are the only foam-nesting tree frogs in the Old World Tree frog family, Rhacophoridae.

<i>Dawkinsia</i> Genus of fishes

Dawkinsia is a genus of cyprinid fishes from freshwater in South India and Sri Lanka. It was split off from genus Puntius in 2012.

<i>Pethia</i> Genus of fishes

Pethia is a genus of small freshwater fish in the family Cyprinidae native to South Asia, East Asia and Mainland Southeast Asia. Some species are commonly seen in the aquarium trade. The name Pethia is derived from the Sinhalese "pethia", a generic word used to describe any of several small species of cyprinid fishes. Most members of this genus were included in Puntius, until it was revised in 2012.

<i>Pseudophilautus tanu</i> Species of amphibian

Sri Lanka petite shrub frog,, is a species of frogs in the family Rhacophoridae, endemic to southwestern Sri Lanka. This relatively recently described species is only known from two locations in the Galle District, Beraliya and Kanneliya Forest Reserves. The specific name tanu is Sinhalese for "slender" and refers to the habitus of this frog.

<i>Rasboroides pallidus</i> Species of fish

Rasboroides pallidus is a species of freshwater cyprinid fish endemic to southwestern Sri Lanka. It is only known from shallow, slow-flowing streams in the basins of the Kalu River, Bentara River, Gin River, Polathu-Modera River and Nilwala River. It has been introduced to the Mahaweli and Walawe River basins, and is overall less threatened than the related R. vaterifloris.

<i>Laubuka</i> Genus of fishes

Laubuka is a genus of cyprinid fish found in South and Southeast Asia.

<i>Dawkinsia rohani</i> Species of fish

Dawkinsia rohani is a species of ray-finned fish in the genus Dawkinsia. It is endemic to the Western Ghats and inhabits the hill streams of Kanyakumari District in Tamil Nadu draining into the Arabian Sea.

<i>Rohanixalus</i> Genus of amphibians

Rohanixalus is a genus of tree frogs in the family Rhacophoridae native to the Andaman islands and Indo-Burma region. The genus was established in 2020 by Indian herpetologist S.D. Biju of the University of Delhi and his colleagues. The genus comprises eight species.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Pethiyagoda, Rohan (1990). Freshwater fishes of Sri Lanka. Colombo: WHT. p. 362. ISBN   955-9114-00-X.
  2. ↑ "What matters is the work we do". Silumina.
  3. ↑ Black, Richard (19 September 2005). "Global plan to rescue amphibians". BBC News. Retrieved 23 January 2012.
  4. ↑ "Fish Section Research Associates". The Australian Museum. Retrieved 16 January 2020.
  5. ↑ "Rohan Pethiyagoda new Tea Board Chairman". Daily FT . Retrieved 16 January 2020.
  6. ↑ "Dr. Pethiyagoda appointed Senior Policy Advisor to Opposition Leader". Daily FT.
  7. 1 2 3 "Rohan Pethiyagoda – The Project". Rolex Awards for Enterprise. Retrieved 14 January 2012.
  8. ↑ Moyle, P.B. (1991). "Review of R. Pethiyagoda, Freshwater Fishes of Sri Lanka". Copeia. 1991 (4): 1166–1177. doi:10.2307/1446131. JSTOR   1446131.
  9. ↑ Kotagama S.; Wijayasinghe, A. (1995). A field guide to the birds of Sri Lanka. WHT. p. 224. ISBN   955-9114-07-7.
  10. ↑ Kotagama, S.; Wijayasinghe, A. (1998). Siri Laka kurullo ['Birds of Sri Lanka']. Colombo: WHT. p. 516. ISBN   955-9114-18-2.
  11. ↑ Ashton, M.S.; Gunatilleke, S.; de Zoysa, N.; Dassanayake, M.D.; Gunatilleke, N.; Siril Wijesundera, S. (2004). Siri Laka gaskolan athpotha ['A handbook to the trees and shrubs of Sri Lanka']. Translated by Wijayasinghe, A. Colombo: WHT. p. 513. ISBN   978-955-9114-30-7.
  12. ↑ Somaweera, R. (2006). Sri Lankawe Sarpayin ['Snakes of Sri Lanka']. Colombo: WHT. p. 297. ISBN   955-9114-35-2.
  13. 1 2 Manamendra-Arachchi, K.; Pethiyagoda, R. (2007). Sri Lankawe Ubhayajeeveen ['The amphibian fauna of Sri Lanka']. Colombo: WHT. p. 440. ISBN   978-955-9114-34-5.
  14. ↑ Fernando, Prithiviraj. "New perspective on amphibians". The Sunday Leader. Archived from the original on 27 November 2011. Retrieved 23 January 2012.
  15. ↑ "Biopiracy threatens Sri Lanka's tourism sector". Daily FT. Retrieved 24 June 2022.
  16. ↑ "Abortion: The agony of a nation | Daily FT". www.ft.lk. Retrieved 10 March 2021.
  17. ↑ "No sex please, we're Sri Lankan". Daily FT. Retrieved 10 March 2021.
  18. ↑ Rohan Pethiyagoda's channel on YouTube
  19. ↑ Pethiyagoda, R.; Kottelat, M.; Silva, A.; Maduwage, M.; Meegaskumbura, M. (2008). "A review of the genus Laubuca in Sri Lanka, with description of three new species (Teleostei: Cyprinidae)". Ichthyological Exploration of Freshwaters. 19: 7–26.
  20. 1 2 Manamendra-Arachchi, K.; Pethiyagoda, R. (2005). "The Sri Lankan shrub frogs of the genus Philautus Gistel". Raffles Bulletin of Zoology. Supplement 12: 163–303.
  21. ↑ Pethiyagoda, R.; Manamendra-Arachchi, K. (1998). "A revision of the endemic Sri Lankan agamid lizard genus Ceratophora Gray, 1835, with description of two new species". Journal of South Asian Natural History. 3: 1–52.
  22. ↑ Manamendra–Arachchi, K.; Batuwita, S.; Pethiyagoda, R. (2007). "A revision of the Sri Lankan day geckos (Reptilia: Gekkonidae: Cnemaspis), with description of new species from Sri Lanka and southern India". Zeylanica. 7: 9–122.
  23. ↑ Bahir, Mohomed M.; Ng, P.K.L.; Crandall, K.; Pethiyagoda, R. (2005). "A conservation assessment of the freshwater crabs of Sri Lanka". Raffles Bulletin of Zoology. Supplement 12: 121–126.
  24. ↑ Bambaradeniya, Channa, ed. (2006). The fauna of Sri Lanka: status of taxonomy, research and conservation (PDF). International Union for Conservation of Nature. pp. 125–131. ISBN   955-8177-51-2.
  25. ↑ Pethiyagoda, Rohan S. Jr.; Nanayakkara, S. (2011). "Invasion by Austroeupatorium inulifolium (Asteraceae) arrests succession following tea cultivation in the highlands of Sri Lanka". Ceylon Journal of Science (Biological Sciences). 40 (2): 175–181. doi: 10.4038/cjsbs.v40i2.3934 .
  26. ↑ "Rohan Pethiyagoda – The call of the cloud forest" – via www.youtube.com.
  27. ↑ Dissanayake, Rajith (24 May 2022). "Sri Lankan wins Linnean Medal, the 'Nobel Prize for naturalists' (commentary)". Mongabay Environmental News. Retrieved 27 May 2022.
  28. ↑ "The (US) Tropical Forest Conservation Act: Flogging Dead Horses". The Island. Archived from the original on 18 June 2019.
  29. ↑ "Google Scholar". scholar.google.com.
  30. ↑ Pethiyagoda, R. (2007). Pearls, spices and green gold: an illustrated history of biodiversity exploration in Sri Lanka. Colombo: WHT. p. 241. ISBN   978-955-9114-38-3.
  31. ↑ Pethiyagoda, Rohan (2012). Sri Lankan primates: An enthusiasts' guide. Colombo: Wildlife Conservation Society, Galle. p. 126. ISBN   9789550954001.
  32. ↑ Pethiyagoda, R. (2012). Horton Plains: Sri Lanka's cloud-forest national park. WHT. p. 320. ISBN   978-955-9114-41-3.
  33. ↑ Pethiyagoda, R.; Sudasinghe, H. (2021). The ecology and biogeography of Sri Lanka: A context for freshwater fishes. Colombo: WHT Publications. p. 258. ISBN   9786249837805.
  34. ↑ "Fish Section Research Associates". The Australian Museum. Retrieved 23 January 2012.
  35. ↑ "Pisces". Magnolia Press. Retrieved 23 January 2012.
  36. ↑ Devi, K. Rema; Indra, T.J.; Knight, J.D. Marcus (26 August 2010). "Puntius rohani (Teleostei: Cyprinidae), a new species of barb in the Puntius filamentosus group from southern Western Ghats of India". Journal of Threatened Taxa. 2 (9): 1121–1129. doi: 10.11609/jott.o2505.1121-9 .
  37. ↑ Batuwita, Sudesh; de Silva, M.; Edirisinghe, U. (November 2013). "A review of the danionine genera Rasboroides and Horadandia (Pisces: Cyprinidae), with description of a new species from Sri Lanka". Ichthyological Exploration of Freshwaters. 24 (2): 121–140.
  38. ↑ Garg, Sonali; Senevirathne, Gayani; Wijayathilaka, Nayana; Phuge, Samadhan; Deuti, Kaushik; Manamendra-Arachchi, Kelum; Meegaskumbura, Madhava; Biju, Sd (22 February 2018). "An integrative taxonomic review of the South Asian microhylid genus Uperodon". Zootaxa. 4384 (1): 1–88. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.4384.1.1. ISSN   1175-5334. PMID   29689915.
  39. ↑ "'Yala Toilet Frog' named after departing Tea Board chairman". Daily FT. Retrieved 16 January 2020.
  40. ↑ Amarasinghe, A.A. Thasun; Karunarathna, D.M.S.S.; Hallermann, J.; Fujunuma, J.; Grillitsch, H.; Campbell, P.D. (2014). "A new species of the genus Calotes (Squamata: Agamidae) from high elevations of the Knuckles Massif of Sri Lanka". Zootaxa. 3785 (1): 59–78. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.3785.1.5. PMID   24872171.
  41. ↑ Benjamin, Suresh P. (2010). "Revision and cladistic analysis of the jumping spider genus Onomastus (Araneae: Salticidae)". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. 159 (3): 711–745. doi: 10.1111/j.1096-3642.2009.00580.x .
  42. ↑ van der Poorten, Nancy (2012). "Macromidia donaldi pethiyagodai subsp. nov. from Sri Lanka (Odonata: Corduliidae)". International Journal of Odonatology. 15 (2): 99–106. doi:10.1080/13887890.2012.692112. S2CID   219595968.
  43. ↑ Biju, S. D.; Garg, Sonali; Gokulakrishnan, G.; Chandrakasan, Sivaperuman; Thammachoti, Panupong; Ren, Jinlong; Gopika, C.; Bisht, Karan; Hamidy, Amir; Shouche, Yogesh (12 November 2020). "New insights on the systematics and reproductive behaviour in tree frogs of the genus Feihyla , with description of a new related genus from Asia (Anura, Rhacophoridae)". Zootaxa. 4878 (1): zootaxa.4878.1.1. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.4878.1.1. ISSN   1175-5334. PMID   33311165. S2CID   228859751.
  44. ↑ Singh, Shiv Sahay (12 November 2020). "New genus of tree frog discovered, found in Andamans and Northeast India". The Hindu. ISSN   0971-751X . Retrieved 10 March 2021.
  45. ↑ Pethiyagoda, Rohan; Meegaskumbura, M.; Maduwage, K. (2012). "A synopsis of the genus Puntius in South Asia (Pisces: Cyprinidae)" (PDF). Ichthyological Exploration of Freshwaters. 23: 69–95. Retrieved 9 August 2012.
  46. ↑ AFP (16 July 2012). "Sri Lankans name new type of fish after Richard Dawkins". The Telegraph. Archived from the original on 16 July 2012. Retrieved 9 August 2012.
  47. ↑ Pethiyagoda, Rohan (2 May 2013). "Haludaria, a replacement generic name for Dravidia (Teleostei: Cyprinidae)". Zootaxa. 3646 (2): 199. CiteSeerX   10.1.1.310.3371 . doi:10.11646/zootaxa.3646.2.9. ISSN   1175-5334. PMID   26213759.
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