One of the biggest impediments to halt the loss of biodiversity is the lack of knowledge on the exact measures of biological diversity. Principally, conservation authorities need to know
what they are conserving and thus a comprehensive understanding on species identities, boundaries and diversity is essential to develop necessary strategies for species conservation. This is particularly true for Sri Lankan lizards such as skinks (family Scincidae) and geckoes (family Gekkonidae). Currently, 34 species of skinks and 60 species of geckoes are known from Sri Lanka. However, in many, species boundaries are not well understood. This has resulted a difficulty of identifying many species in the field and has lead to a dearth of information on species distribution and abundance, which has impeded the evaluation of conservation status to implement conservation strategies. Further, recent studies indicate that the diversity of these diverse groups are highly underestimated. These findings mostly indicate that many species are unrecognized due to their highly cryptic nature and the lack of exploration of many of the isolated habitats. Hence, integrative approaches using both genetics (i.e. molecular) and morphology coupled with systematic field sampling are important to unravel the hidden diversity of these lizards in Sri Lanka. Thus, it is pertinent that confusion on species boundaries and identities are resolved and clarified to assess the conservation status and implement conservation measures. Thus the findings on the diversity, species boundaries, genetic diversity, abundance and conservation status of skinks and geckoes of Sri Lanka from this study will be beneficial to the conservation authorities (i.e. Department of Wildlife Conservation and Forest Department) and conservation management policy makers to prioritize species and habitats that need urgent conservation measures. In particular, identification of cryptic species, and divergent among widely distributed species will add an important dimension to biodiversity conservation in Sri Lanka. This will ensure that the genetic diversity and evolutionary heritage of the poorly known reptile fauna is recognized and protected, a step that is essential to reduce the loss of biodiversity in Sri Lanka.