Skip to main content Skip to main navigation menu Skip to site footer
Type: Articles
Published: 2012-04-19
Page range: 26–34
Abstract views: 65
PDF downloaded: 2

A third species of Gegeneophis Peters (Amphibia: Gymnophiona: Indotyphlidae) lacking secondary annular grooves

Department of Zoology, University of Kerala, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India. 695581
Department of Zoology, The Natural History Museum, London, SW7 5BD, UK
Department of Zoology, University of Kerala, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India. 695581 School of Biological Sciences, Central University of Kerala, Padannakkad, Kasaragod, Kerala, India
Department of Zoology, The Natural History Museum, London, SW7 5BD, UK
Amphibia caecilians herpetology India Kerala taxonomy Western Ghats

Abstract

A new species of indotyphlid caecilian amphibian, Gegeneophis primus sp. nov., is described based on a series of eight speci-mens from the state of Kerala in the southern region of the Western Ghats, India. This species is distinguished from all otherGegeneophis, except G. seshachari and G. pareshi, in lacking secondary annular grooves and scales. It differs from G. ses-hachari and G. pareshi in several features, including having fewer primary annuli and lacking a well-developed unsegmented terminal shield.

References

  1. Bhatta, G. & Prashanth, P. (2004) Gegeneophis nadkarnii—a caecilian (Amphibia: Gymnophiona: Caeciliidae) from Bondla Wildlife Sanctuary, Western Ghats. Current Science, 87, 388–391.

    Bhatta, G. & Srinivasa, R. (2004) A new species of Gegeneophis Peters (Amphibia: Gymnophiona: Caeciliidae) from the surroundings of Mookambika Wildlife Sanctuary, Karnataka, India. Zootaxa, 644, 1–8

    Bhatta, G., Dinesh, K.P., Prashanth, P. & Kulkarni, N.U. (2007a) A new species of Gegeneophis Peters (Amphibia: Gymnophiona: Caeciliidae) from Goa, India. Zootaxa, 1409, 51–59.

    Bhatta, G., Dinesh, K.P., Prashanth, P. & Kulkarni, N.U. (2007b) A new species of the Indian caecilian genus Gegeneophis Peters (Amphibia: Gymnophiona: Caeciliidae) from the surroundings of Mahadayi Wildlife Sanctuary, Western Ghats. Current Science, 93, 1442–1445.

    Giri, V., Wilkinson, M. & Gower, D.J. (2003) A new species of Gegeneophis Peters (Amphibia: Gymnophiona: Caeciliidae) from the Western Ghats of southern Maharashtra, India, with a key to the species of the genus. Zootaxa, 351, 1–10.

    Giri, V., Gower, D.J. & Wilkinson, M. (2004) A new species of Indotyphlus Taylor (Amphibia: Gymnophiona: Caeciliidae) from the Western Ghats, India. Zootaxa, 739, 1–19.

    Giri, V., Gower, D. J., Gaikwad, K., & Wilkinson, M. (2011) A second species of Gegeneophis Peters (Amphibia: Gymnophiona: Caeciliidae) lacking secondary annular grooves. Zootaxa 2815, 49–58.

    Gower, D.J., Giri, V. & Wilkinson, M. (2007) Rediscovery of Gegeneophis seshachari Ravichandran, Gower & Wilkinson (Amphibia: Gymnophiona: Caeciliidae) at the type locality. Herpetozoa, 19, 121–127.

    Gower, D.J., Mauro, S.D., Giri, V., Bhatta, G., Govindappa, V., Kotharambath, R., Oommen, O.V., Fatih, F.A., Mackenzie-Dodds, J.A., Nussbaum, R.A., Biju, S.D., Shouche, Y.S., Wilkinson, M. (2011) Molecular systematics of caeciliid caecilians (Amphibia: Gymnophiona) of the Western Ghats, India. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 59, 698–707

    Kamei, R.G., San Mauro, D., Gower, D.J., Van Bocxlaer, I., Sherratt, E., Thomas, A., Babu, S., Bossuyt, F., Wilkinson, M. & Biju, S.D. (2012) Discovery of a new family of amphibians from northeast India with ancient links to Africa. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B. doi:10.1098/rspb.2012.0150.

    Kamei, R.G., Wilkinson, M., Gower, D.J. & Biju, S.D. (2009) Three new species of striped Ichthyophis (Amphibia: Gymnophiona: Ichthyophiidae) from the northeast Indian states of Manipur and Nagaland. Zootaxa, 2267, 26–42.

    Maciel, A.O. & Hoogmoed, M.S. (2011) Taxonomy and distribution of caecilian amphibians (Gymnophiona) of Brazilian Amazonia, with a key to their identification. Zootaxa, 2984, 1–53

    Pillai, R.S. & Ravichandran, M.S. (1999) Gymnophiona (Amphibia) of India. A taxonomic study. Records of the Zoological Survey of India, Occasional Papers 72, 1–117.

    Ravichandran, M.S., Gower, D.J. & Wilkinson, M. (2003) A new species of Gegeneophis Peters (Amphibia: Gymnophiona: Caeciliidae) from Maharashtra, India. Zootaxa, 350, 1–8.

    Taylor, E.H. (1964) A new species of caecilian from India (Amphibia: Gymnophiona) Senkenbergiana Biologica, 45, 227–231.

    Wilkinson, M. & Kok, P.J.R. (2010) A new species of Microcaecilia (Amphibia: Gymnophiona: Caeciliidae) from Guyana. Zootaxa, 2719, 35–40.

    Wilkinson, M., San Mauro, D., Sherratt, E. & Gower, D.J. (2011) A nine-family classification of caecilians (Amphibia: Gymnophiona). Zootaxa, 2874, 41–64.