Caeciliidae
Caeciliidae is the family of common caecilians. They are found in central and south America, equatorial Africa and India. Like other caecilians, they superficially resemble worms or snakes.
Although they are the most diverse of the caecilian families, the caeciliids do have a number of features in common that distinguish them from other caecilians. In particular, their skulls have relatively few bones, with those that are present being fused to form a solid ram to aid in burrowing through the soil. The mouth is recessed beneath the snout, and there is no tail.[1]
Many caeciliids lay their eggs in moist soil. The eggs then hatch into aquatic larvae, which live in seepages in the soil, or in small streams. However, some species lack a larval stage, with the eggs hatching into juveniles with the same form as the adults, or else lack eggs and give birth to live young.[1]
Species
- Genus Boulengerula – Boulenger's Caecilians
- Genus Brasilotyphlus – Brazilian Caecilians
- Genus Caecilia – Common Caecilians
- Genus Caecilita
- Genus Dermophis – Mexican Caecilians
- Genus Gegeneophis – Forest Caecilians
- Genus Geotrypetes – West African Caecilians
- Genus Grandisonia – Seychelles Caecilians
- Genus Gymnopis – Wet Forest Caecilians
- Genus Herpele – Congo Caecilians
- Genus Hypogeophis – Frigate Island Caecilian
- Genus Idiocranium – Makumuno Assumbo Caecilian
- Genus Indotyphlus – Battersby's Caecilians
- Genus Luetkenotyphlus – Sao Paolo Caecilian
- Genus Microcaecilia – Tiny Caecilians
- Genus Mimosiphonops – Worm Patterned Caecilians
- Genus Oscaecilia – South American Caecilians
- Genus Parvicaecilia – Columbian Caecilians
- Genus Praslinia – Cooper's Caecilian
- Genus Schistometopum – Guinae Caecilians
- Genus Siphonops – Ringed Caecilians
- Genus Sylvacaecilia – Aleku Caecilian
References
- ^ a b Nussbaum, Ronald A. (1998). Cogger, H.G. & Zweifel, R.G.. ed. Encyclopedia of Reptiles and Amphibians. San Diego: Academic Press. p. 57. ISBN 0-12-178560-2.
- Nussbaum, Ronald A.; 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 (2): 413–427. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2004.05.014. PMID 15336675.
- 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 (5): 590–599. doi:10.1086/429523. PMID 15795855.
- San Mauro, Diego; David J. Gower, Tim Massingham, Mark Wilkinson, Rafael Zardoya and James A. Cotton (August 2009). "Experimental design in caecilian systematics: phylogenetic information of mitochondrial genomes and nuclear rag1". Systematic Biology 58 (4): 425–438. doi:10.1093/sysbio/syp043. PMID 20525595. http://sysbio.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/reprint/58/4/425.
- 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