Uraeotyphlidae

Taxobox
name = Indian caecilians
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Amphibia
ordo = Gymnophiona
familia = Uraeotyphlidae
familia_authority = Nussbaum, 1979
genus = "Uraeotyphlus"
genus_authority = Peters, 1879
subdivision_ranks = Species
subdivision = "Uraeotyphlus interruptus" "Uraeotyphlus malabaricus" "Uraeotyphlus menoni" "Uraeotyphlus narayani" "Uraeotyphlus oommeni" "Uraeotyphlus oxyurus" "Uraeotyphlus gansi"

Uraeotyphlidae is the family of Indian caecilians. There are six species of caecilians in the single genus "Uraeotyphlus", found in Western Ghats in India.

They have a distribution restricted to extreme southern India. Relatively small sized caecilians ranging from 234-300 mm. Members of this family have a true post-cloacal tail with vertebrae and a somewhat stegokrotaphic skull. The mouth may be countersunk. The tentacular opening is found anterior on the snout below the nostril. Uraeotyphlids are relatively small, reaching 300 mm total length. Tertiary annuli are absent in this group. Molecular studies support their placement as sister taxon to ichthyophiids. They are burrowers who lay eggs with free-living larvae. Habitats are primarily the tropical forest floor soil in the western Ghats in Kerala State, peninsular India.

Taxonomy

*Genus "Uraeotyphlus"
**"Uraeotyphlus interruptus"
**"Uraeotyphlus malabaricus"
**"Uraeotyphlus menoni"
**"Uraeotyphlus narayani"
**"Uraeotyphlus oommeni"
**"Uraeotyphlus oxyurus"

References

*Nussbaum, Ronald A. and Mark Wilkinson (1989). "On the Classification and Phylogeny of Caecilians." Herpetological Monographs, (3), 1-42
*cite journal
last = San Mauro
first = Diego
title = Phylogeny of caecilian amphibians (Gymnophiona) based on complete mitochondrial genomes and nuclear RAG1
doi = 10.1016/j.ympev.2004.05.014
journal = Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution
volume = 33
pages = 413–427
year = 2004
month = November
coauthors = David J. Gower, Oommen V. Oommen, Mark Wilkinson and Rafael Zardoya
*cite journal
last = San Mauro
first = Diego
title = Initial diversification of living amphibians predated the breakup of Pangaea
url = http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/AN/journal/issues/v165n5/40546/40546.html
journal = American Naturalist
volume = 165
pages = 590–599
year = 2005
month = May
coauthors = Miguel Vences, Marina Alcobendas, Rafael Zardoya and Axel Meyer
doi = 10.1086/429523
format = dead link|date=June 2008 – ^{[http://scholar.google.co.uk/scholar?hl=en&lr=&q=author%3ASan+Mauro+intitle%3AInitial+diversification+of+living+amphibians+predated+the+breakup+of+Pangaea&as_publication=American+Naturalist&as_ylo=2005&as_yhi=2005&btnG=Search Scholar search]}
* Gower, D. J, Alex Kupfer, Oommen V. Oommen, Werner Himstedt, Ronald A. Nussbaum, Simon P. Loader, Bronwen Presswell1,Hendrik Mueller, Sharath B. Krishna, Renaud Boistel and Mark Wilkinson (2002) A molecular phylogeny of ichthyophiid caecilians (Amphibia: Gymnophiona: Ichthyophiidae): out of India or out of South East Asia? Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B 269:1563–1569 [http://texas.amphibiatree.org/files/active/0/Gower%202002.pdf PDF]
*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