Caeciliidae

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Caeciliidae
Siphonops annulatus
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Amphibia
Order: Gymnophiona
Family: Caeciliidae
Rafinesque-Schmaltz, 1814
Genera

Boulengerula
Brasilotyphlus
Caecilia
Dermophis
Gegeneophis
Geotrypetes
Grandisonia
Gymnopis
Herpele
Hypogeophis
Idiocranium
Indotyphlus
Luetkenotyphlus
Microcaecilia
Mimosiphonops
Oscaecilia
Parvicaecilia
Praslinia
Schistometopum
Siphonops

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

Presumed Microcaecilia dermatophaga mother with eggs

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 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. 
  • 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
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