Description of eight new species of shrub frogs (Ranidae: Rhacophorinae: Philautus) from Sri Lanka

Eight new species of Sri Lankan frogs of the genus Philautus are described (P. mooreorum, P poppiae, P. hoffmanni, P. mittermeieri, P. frankenbergi, P. hallidayi, P. steineri and P. stuarti). The species are diagnosed on the basis of mitochondrial DNA sequence, morphological features and, in two cases, bioacoustics data. Six of the eight species are confined to high elevation cloud forest isolates on the three main mountain ranges of central Sri Lanka. Because of their limited geographic distribution and small extent of remaining habitat, these species are classified as Endangered under the IUCN Red List criteria. These descriptions bring the total number of Sri Lankan Philautus to 61 species, 44 of which are extant.