Uraeotyphlidae

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

iIndian caecilians
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Amphibia Order: Gymnophiona Family: Uraeotyphlidae Nussbaum, 1979 Genus: Uraeotyphlus Peters, 1879
Species
Uraeotyphlus interruptus Uraeotyphlus malabaricus Uraeotyphlus menoni Uraeotyphlus narayani Uraeotyphlus oxyurus

Uraeotyphlidae is the family of Indian caecilians. There are five species of caecilians in the single genus Uraeotyphlus, found in Western Ghats in India.

They have a distribution restricted to extreme southern India. Relatively small sized caecilians ranging from 234-300 mm. Members of this family have a true post-cloacal tail with vertebrae and a somewhat stegokrotaphic skull. The mouth may be countersunk. The tentacular opening is found anterior on the snout below the nostril. Uraeotyphlids are relatively small, reaching 300 mm total length. Tertiary annuli are absent in this group. Molecular studies support their placement as sister taxon to ichthyophiids. They are burrowers who lay eggs with free-living larvae. Habitats are primarily the tropical forest floor soil in the western Ghats in Kerala State, peninsular India.

[edit] Taxonomy

• Genus Uraeotyphlus
  • Uraeotyphlus interruptus
  • Uraeotyphlus malabaricus
  • Uraeotyphlus menoni
  • Uraeotyphlus narayani
  • Uraeotyphlus oxyurus

[edit] References

• Nussbaum, Ronald A. and Mark Wilkinson (1989). "On the Classification and Phylogeny of Caecilians." Herpetological Monographs, (3), 1-42
• San Mauro, Diego, David J. Gower, Oommen V. Oommen, Mark Wilkinson and Rafael Zardoya (November 2004). "Phylogeny of caecilian amphibians (Gymnophiona) based on complete mitochondrial genomes and nuclear RAG1". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 33: 413-427.
• San Mauro, Diego, Miguel Vences, Marina Alcobendas, Rafael Zardoya and Axel Meyer (May 2005). "Initial diversification of living amphibians predated the breakup of Pangaea". American Naturalist 165: 590-599.
• Frost, Darrel R. 2004. Amphibian Species of the World: an Online Reference. Version 3.0 (22 August, 2004). Electronic Database accessible at http://research.amnh.org/herpetology/amphibia/index.php. American Museum of Natural History, New York, USA
• AmphibiaWeb: Information on amphibian biology and conservation. [web application]. 2004. Berkeley, California: AmphibiaWeb. Available: http://amphibiaweb.org/. Retrieved 26 August 2004