The pholcid spiders of Sri Lanka have never been revised in any detail. Most species previously known from the island are widespread synanthropics. However, recent collecting has revealed a rich native fauna, with new taxa at species and genus levels. In this paper we redescribe Pholcus ceylonicus O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1869, present the first record of Modisimus culicinus (Simon, 1893) for Sri Lanka, and describe two new species of a new genus, Wanniyala agrabopath n. sp. and Wanniyala hakgala n. sp. Both new species appear to be restricted to relatively undisturbed forests, where they inhabit the leaf-litter. Several new Sri Lankan species tentatively assigned to Belisana Thorell will be described in a forthcoming revision of that genus. These studies suggest that a rich pholcid fauna may await discovery in Sri Lanka.