| Uraeotyphlus gansi | |
|---|---|
| Conservation status | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Amphibia |
| Order: | Gymnophiona |
| Family: | Ichthyophiidae |
| Genus: | Uraeotyphlus |
| Species: | U. gansi |
| Binomial name | |
| Uraeotyphlus gansi |
|
Uraeotyphlus gansi is a rare limbless species of caecilian, endemic to the Western Ghats of India. It was discovered in the Kaakkaachi-Naalumukku area of the Kalakkad Mundanthurai Tiger Reserve in the Western Ghats. Uraeotyphlus gansi was named after Carl Gans, a renowned herpetologist from Texas.
According to Albert Rajendran, Reader, Research Department of Zoology, St. John’s College, Palayamkottai, spotted the species, along with his collaborator David J. Gower of the Natural History Museum, London, and two other experts in Caecilians. He came across these limbless amphibians in the Kaakkaachi-Naalumukku areas with precise locality during his study of the burrowing Uropeltid (shield-tailed) snakes of the Western Ghats.