''Adenomus'' is a small genus of

true toads A true toad is any member of the family Bufonidae, in the order Anura (frogs and toads). This is the only family of anurans in which all members are known as toads, although some may be called frogs (such as harlequin frogs). The bufonids now ...

, with only two species,

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

. ''Adenomus kandianus'' was considered as

extinct Extinction is the termination of an organism by the death of its Endling, last member. A taxon may become Functional extinction, functionally extinct before the death of its last member if it loses the capacity to Reproduction, reproduce and ...

for 133 years, but was rediscovered in October 2009 in the

Kandy Kandy (, ; , ) is a major city located in the Central Province, Sri Lanka, Central Province of Sri Lanka. It was the last capital of the Sinhalese monarchy from 1469 to 1818, under the Kingdom of Kandy. The city is situated in the midst of ...

area.

Description

''Adenomus'' are slender toads that lack the

supraorbital ridge The brow ridge, or supraorbital ridge known as superciliary arch in medicine, is a bony ridge located above the eye sockets of all primates and some other animals. In humans, the Eyebrow, eyebrows are located on their lower margin. Structure The ...

(present in other Sri Lankan bufonids) and have smooth finger edges (versus granular). The largest species is ''

Adenomus kelaartii ''Adenomus kelaartii'' (Kelaart's toad or Kelaart's dwarf toad) is a species of toad in the family Bufonidae. It is endemic to Sri Lanka, where it is found in the south-west of the island at elevations between 30 and 1,230 m. The specific na ...

'' where females can attain in snout–vent length.

Species

There are two species: The species are syntopic in parts of their range, but generally speaking ''Adenomus kandianus'' is a lower-altitude species whereas ''Adenomus kelaartii'' is a high-altitude species. A third species, ''Adenomus dasi'' (Das's dwarf toad) was recognized in 2015 as being a

synonym A synonym is a word, morpheme, or phrase that means precisely or nearly the same as another word, morpheme, or phrase in a given language. For example, in the English language, the words ''begin'', ''start'', ''commence'', and ''initiate'' are a ...

of ''Adenomus kandianus''; the two show some morphological differences but negligible genetic divergence.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q130433 Amphibian genera Amphibians of Sri Lanka Endemic fauna of Sri Lanka Taxa named by Edward Drinker Cope