Uraeotyphlus menoni

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Uraeotyphlus menoni
Uraeotyphlus menoni habitus.JPG
Scientific classification Red Pencil Icon.png
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Amphibia
Order: Gymnophiona
Clade: Apoda
Family: Ichthyophiidae
Genus: Uraeotyphlus
Species:
U. menoni
Binomial name
Uraeotyphlus menoni
Annandale, 1913

Uraeotyphlus menoni, also known as Menon's caecilian or Kerala caecilian, is a species of caecilian in the family Ichthyophiidae. It is endemic to the state of Kerala in the Western Ghats, India. [1] [2] The specific name menoni honours K. Ramunni Menon, collector of the holotype who later became the vice-chancellor of the University of Madras. [3]

Contents

Description

Uraeotyphlus menoni can grow to 248 mm (9.8 in) in total length. [4] It is a greyish species with a white belly blotched with grey. The head is light violet in colour with light mottling, and the distinct eyes are surrounded by a light ring. The tip of the snout and lower jaw are whitish in colour, also with grey spots. The tip of the short tail (<1 cm) is whitish in colour. The tentacles are placed close to and below the nostrils. The nostrils are visible from above. [5]

Habitat and conservation

Uraeotyphlus menoni is a subterranean (fossorial) species associated with humus-rich, loose, moist soil. It occurs in both tropical moist forest and agricultural land at elevations below 500 m (1,600 ft) asl. It is probably oviparous with terrestrial eggs and aquatic larvae. [1]

This species appears to be reasonably adaptable and is probably not severely threatened, even though local populations might be threatened by severe habitat destruction. It might also be threatened by agrochemicals, changes in soil chemistry, and collection of humus. It is not known to occur in any protected areas. [1]

Related Research Articles

<i>Uraeotyphlus</i> Genus of amphibians

Uraeotyphlus is a genus of caecilians in the family Ichthyophiidae. There are seven species in this genus, all of which are endemic to the Western Ghats of southwestern India. Previously, the genus has also been placed in its own monotypic family Uraeotyphlidae.

<i>Ichthyophis beddomei</i> Species of amphibian

Ichthyophis beddomei is a species of caecilian in the family Ichthyophiidae. This species is distributed widely in the Western Ghats in southern India. The nominal species might be a composite of several cryptic species. It is also known as the yellow-striped caecilian, Beddome's caecilian, or Nilgherries caecilian.

Bombay caecilian Species of amphibian

The Bombay caecilian is an amphibian found in India. This rather large species is found in the northern Western Ghats. The eyes are distinct and surrounded by a light ring. The tentacle is placed closer to the lip than the eye. A dark brown or greyish-brown species, it has no lateral stripes.

<i>Ichthyophis tricolor</i> Species of amphibian

Ichthyophis tricolor, the three-colored caecilian or Maddatorai caecilian, is an amphibian endemic to the Western Ghats, India. Its taxonomic status is unclear, including its relationship with Ichthyophis beddomei and the possibility of cryptic species.

<i>Uraeotyphlus interruptus</i> Species of amphibian

Uraeotyphlus interruptus, also known as the Chengalam caecilian, is a species of caecilian in the family Ichthyophiidae. It is endemic to the Western Ghats in southern India and is only known from its type locality, Chengalam village in Kerala.

Uraeotyphlus malabaricus is a species of caecilian in the family Ichthyophiidae. It is endemic to the Western Ghats of India and is known from its type locality, "Malabar" in Kerala, and from the Nilgiri mountains in Tamil Nadu. It is known with several common names: Malabar tailed caecilian, Nilgiris caecilian, Malabar caecilian, and white-lipped caecilian.

<i>Uraeotyphlus narayani</i> Species of amphibian

Uraeotyphlus narayani, or Narayan's caecilian, is a species of caecilian endemic to the Western Ghats of India.

<i>Uraeotyphlus oxyurus</i> Species of amphibian

Uraeotyphlus oxyurus, also known as the red caecilian, sharp-nosed caecilian, dark-brown caecilian, pale-throated caecilian, or harp-tailed caecilian, is a species of caecilian in the family Ichthyophiidae. It is endemic to the Western Ghats in Kerala and Tamil Nadu, southern India.

Gegeneophis carnosus is a species of caecilian found in Karnataka and Kerala states, India. Its common name Periah Peak caecilian refers to its type locality, though it is also known under names blind caecilian and pink blind caecilian.

Gegeneophis madhavai, the Mudur caecilian, is a species of caecilian found in India. It is only known from its type locality Mudur village, Kundapura Taluk in Udupi district in Karnataka.

Gegeneophis ramaswamii, common names Tenmalai caecilian, Tenmalai blind caecilian, Ramaswami's caecilian, and forest caecilian is a species of caecilian. It is endemic to the southern portion of the Western Ghats, India, and is recorded from Kerala and Tamil Nadu. The specific name ramaswamii honours L. S. Ramaswami, an Indian herpetologist.

Battersby's caecilian is a slender species of caecilian endemic to the Western Ghats, India. It has a flesh-coloured body, making it look very much like a large earthworm.

Indotyphlus maharashtraensis is a species of caecilians described in 2004 by scientists of Bombay Natural History Society and the Natural History Museum, London. It is only the second species of Indotyphlus known to science, and only known from its type locality near Humbarli village, Satara District, in the Western Ghats of Maharashtra, India. Common names Humbarli caecilian, Maharashtra caecilian, and Konkan tail-less caecilian have been coined for it.

Caecilians of the Western Ghats

The Western Ghats in India are home to several species of caecilians (Gymnophiona). Caecilians are legless, burrowing amphibians which mostly live in leaf litter, loose soil, under rocks and decaying logs. They are also found in agricultural fields and only surface during the monsoon. The body is elongated and smooth with a slimy skin. The smaller caecilians superficially resemble earthworms while the larger ones are often mistaken for snakes. However, they can be told apart from earthworms by the presence of eyes, teeth and skeleton and from snakes by the lack of scales on skin. The eyes in caecilians are not well developed which is most likely to be because of their burrowing life style. They are considered as rare which is apparently due to their subterranean habits. To see them one has to search carefully and be at the right place and at the right time. There are few places where they are common, but, at least one species was reported to be abundant in agricultural fields in Kerala. The larger caecilians can resemble snakes, but their skin is smooth, not scaly.

<i>Dermophis mexicanus</i> Species of amphibian

Dermophis mexicanus, also known commonly as the Mexican burrowing caecilian and the Mexican caecilian, is a species of limbless amphibian in the family Dermophiidae. The species is native to Mexico and Central America, where it burrows under leaf litter and plant debris.

<i>Rhacophorus lateralis</i> Species of amphibian

Rhacophorus lateralis is an endangered rhacophorid tree frog endemic to the Western Ghats in South India. It has several common names: small tree frog, Boulenger's tree frog, small gliding frog, and winged gliding frog. After its original description in 1883 by George Albert Boulenger, the frog was rediscovered in Coorg in 2000 and has since been found in many parts of the Western Ghats around southern Karnataka and northern Kerala. Along with R. malabaricus, it is one of the few anuran amphibians in India that constructs its nest above the ground using leaves.

Uraeotyphlus oommeni, sometimes known as the Oommen's caecilian, Oommen's Uraeotyphlus, or Bonnacord caecilian, is a species of caecilian in the family Ichthyophiidae. Within Uraeotyphlus, it belongs to the U. malabaricus group showing no obvious external differentiation between primary and higher-order annuli. This species is endemic to the Western Ghats and only known from its type locality, Bonaccord, Thiruvananthapuram district, southern Kerala. Very little is known about this species known only from a single specimen collected from an imprecise location.

Uraeotyphlus gansi, the Gansi caecilian, is a rare species of caecilian, endemic to the Western Ghats of India. It was discovered in the Kaakkaachi-Naalumukku area of the Kalakkad Mundanthurai Tiger Reserve. U. gansi was named after Carl Gans (1923–2009), a renowned herpetologist from Texas.

<i>Ichthyophis kodaguensis</i> Species of amphibian

Ichthyophis kodaguensis, also known as the Kodagu striped Ichthyophis, is a species of caecilian in the family Ichthyophiidae. It is endemic to the southern Western Ghats, India. All confirmed records are from southern Karnataka state, although it is also reported from adjacent Kerala.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Sushil Dutta, Gopalakrishna Bhatta, David Gower, Mark Wilkinson, Oommen V. Oommen (2004). "Uraeotyphlus menoni". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species . 2004: e.T59656A11965158. doi: 10.2305/IUCN.UK.2004.RLTS.T59656A11965158.en . Retrieved 19 November 2021.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  2. ↑ Frost, Darrel R. (2019). "Uraeotyphlus menoni Annandale, 1913". Amphibian Species of the World: an Online Reference. Version 6.0. American Museum of Natural History. Retrieved 30 August 2019.
  3. ↑ Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael & Grayson, Michael (2013). The Eponym Dictionary of Amphibians. Pelagic Publishing. p. 140. ISBN   978-1-907807-42-8.
  4. ↑ Venkataraman, K.; Chattopadhyay, A. & Subramanian, K.A., eds. (2013). Endemic Animals of India (Vertebrates). Kolkata: Zoological Survey of India. 235 pp.+26 plates. [Uraeotyphlus menoni: pp. 136–137]
  5. ↑ Bhatta, Gopalakrishna (1998). "A field guide to the caecilians of the Western Ghats, India". Journal of Biosciences. 23 (1): 73–85. doi:10.1007/BF02728526. S2CID   29374045.
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