A new caecilian Ichthyophis davidi sp. nov. (Gymnophiona: Ichthyophiidae): the largest striped caecilian from the Western Ghats

The Western Ghats, a hill chain of 1600 km running parallel to the west coast of India, is one of the amphibian hotspots. Gymnophiona in the Western Ghats is represented by 23 species super(1), of which 12 belong to Ichthyophiidae and 11 species to Caeciliidae. Under Ichthyophiidae, Ichthyophis and...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Current science (Bangalore) 2011-10, Vol.101 (8), p.1015-1019
Main Authors: Bhatta, Gopalakrishna, Dinesh, K. P., Prashanth, P., Kulkarni, Nirmal, Radhakrishnan, C.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Amniotic band syndrome
Biological taxonomies
Caecilians
Caeciliidae
Gymnophiona
Head
Holotypes
Ichthyophiidae
Ichthyophis
Ichthyophis beddomei
Jaw
Lips
Paratypes
SCIENTIFIC CORRESPONDENCE
Stripes
Teeth
Uraeotyphlus
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Description
Summary:The Western Ghats, a hill chain of 1600 km running parallel to the west coast of India, is one of the amphibian hotspots. Gymnophiona in the Western Ghats is represented by 23 species super(1), of which 12 belong to Ichthyophiidae and 11 species to Caeciliidae. Under Ichthyophiidae, Ichthyophis and Uraeotyphlus are the two genera containing five and seven species respectively. In the genus Ichthyophis, two forms of species are categorized: monocoloured species and species with yellow stripes. A total of four striped caecilians, namely Ichthyophis beddomei Peters, 1879 (Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu), Ichthyophis tricolor Annandale, 1909 (Kerala), Ichthyophis longicephalus Pillai, 1986 (Kerala) and Ichthyophis kodaguensis Wilkinson, Gower, Govindappa and Venkatachalaiah, 2007 (Karnataka and Kerala), and a monocoloured species Ichthyophis bombayensis Taylor, 1960 (Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka and Kerala) were described from the Western Ghats.
ISSN:0011-3891