Sri Lanka is a biodiversity hotspot, rich in herpetofaunal assemblages (Bossuyt et al., 2004; Meegaskumbura et al., 2002). Lizards are generally recognizable as Reptiles from their close cousins, the snakes, in showing limbs, although, a few skinks have lost their limbs. Most lizards feed on insects or other invertebrates, the monitor lizards, when adult, capable of subduing and eating small to medium sized vertebrates, including birds and mammals. None of the Sri Lankan Lizards are venomous, and reports of food poisoning from lizards in the food are probably attributable to the unhygienic conditions under which the food was prepared. Several groups of lizards, including skinks and geckos, are capable of autotomising their tails; that is, when threatened, they can willingly shed their tails, growing a new one in time. The regenerated tail is never the same as the one lost, and generally lacks ornamentation, shape and color of the original tail (Das & de Silva, 2005). 

Agamid Lizards
Eighteen species of agamid lizards, family Agamidae, have been reported from Sri Lanka (Amarasinghe et al., 2009; de Silva, 2006; Manamendra-Arachchi et al., 2006; Myers et al., 2000), representing one subfamily: Draconinae (Macey et al., 2000) and fifteen of them are endemic to the island (Amarasinghe et al., 2009; de Silva, 2006). These eighteen species represent six genera and Cophotis (two species), Ceratophora (five species) and Lyriocephalus (one species) are endemic to Sri Lanka (Manamendra-Arachchi et al., 2006; Pethiyagoda & Manamendra-Arachchi, 1998). The genus Calotes (seven species) extends through southern Asia, most of the East Indian Archipelago (Bahir & Maduwage, 2005; Taylor, 1953). Sitana (one species) and Otocryptis (two species) are the other genera found in Sri Lanka (Bahir & Silva, 2005; Deraniyagala, 1953).

Geckos
Forty two species belonging to nine genera of geckos, family Gekkonidae, have been recognized from Sri Lanka and thirty one of them are endemic to the island (Batuwita & Bahir, 2005; Bauer et al., 2007; Deraniyagala, 1953; Manamendra-Arachchi et al., 2007; Wickramasinghe & Munindradasa, 2007). The genus Cnemaspis is represented by twenty one species (Bauer et al., 2007; Deraniyagala, 1953; Manamendra-Arachchi et al., 2007; Wickramasinghe & Munindradasa, 2007). The other genera represent with one species of Calodactylodes (Deraniyagala, 1953), six species of Cyrtodactylus (Batuwita & Bahir, 2005; Günther, 1864), three species of Geckoella (Beddome, 1870; Deraniyagala, 1945; Günther, 1864), one species of Gehyra (Weigmann, 1835), eight species of Hemidactylus (Annandale, 1906; Daudin, 1802; Duméril & Bibron, 1836; Gray, 1829, 1845), one species of Hemiphyllodactylus (Bleeker, 1860) and one species of Lepidodactylus (Duméril & Bibron, 1836).

Skinks
Thirty two species of skinks, family Scincidae, have been recognized from Sri Lanka and twenty four of them are endemic to the island (Batuwita & Pethiyagoda, 2007; Das et al., 2008; Deraniyagala, 1953; de Silva, 2006; Karunarathna et al., 2009; Wickramasinghe et al., 2009). The genus Eutrophis is represented by seven species (Das et al., 2008). The other genera represent with one species of Chalcidoseps, one species of Dasia (Deraniyagala, 1953), two species of Sphenomorphus, two species of Lygosoma (Deraniyagala, 1953; Gans, 1991), ten species of Lankascincus (Batuwita & Pethiyagoda, 2007; Deraniyagala, 1953; Gans, 1991; Wickramasinghe et al., 2009), eight species of Nessia (Deraniyagala, 1953) and one species of Chalcides (Karunarathna et al., 2009). Among those genera Chalcidoseps, Nessia and Lankascincus genera are endemic to the island (Deraniyagala, 1953, Gans, 1991).

In addition to the above mention families Sri Lanka’s Tetrapod reptile fauna represent with two species of Varanidae, one species of Bataguridae, one species of Chameleonidae, four species of Cheloniidae, two species of Crocodylidae, one species of Dermochelidae, one species of Emydidae, two species of Lacertidae, one species of Testudinidae and one species of Trionychidae.