Order Apoda
Caecilians
-no limbs or girdles
-burrowers (fossorial)
-short or absent tail
-terminal vent
-no or few caudal vertebrae
-small eyes
-eyes under the skin or under the skull
-annular grooves have tiny dermal scales
-no gills in adults
-protrusible male sex organs (called phallodeum);
thus internal fertilization
-tentacle between eye and nostril
-outgrowth of the brain, tactile in function
- 6 families; 33 genera and 163 species
Skull completely roofed, except
opening for sense organs, little kinesis
Skull with temporal region openings;
slightly kinetic
Family Rhinatrematidae
Epicrionops
American Tailed Caecilians
- 2 genera; 9 species
- most basal group
- eyes visible externally;
in bony sockets beneath skin
-tentacle arises near anterior edge of eye
-short tail
-200 – 300 mm TL
-oviparous
-deposits aquatic eggs
Ichthyophis
Family Ichthyophiidae
Asian Tailed Caecilians
- SE Asia, India and Indonesia
- oviparous
- conspicuous annuli; mostly 200-300 mm TL
- Ichthyophis glutinosus
-very common
-forest lowland streams
-burrow in banks, lay 15-20 eggs in burrows
-female coils around eggs
-larvae hatch and enter water
-larvae are gilled
-upon transformation lose gills and become worm-like
Family Caecilidae
Tailless Caecilians
21 genera
-Seychelles
-SA, Africa, and SE Asia
-oviparous or viviparous
-larval period 10-12 months
-terrestrial as adults
-no tails
Siphonops
Typhlonectes
Family Typhlonectidae
Water Caecilians
5 genera; 13 species
-small eyes are hypodermal
- dermal scales absent in the grooves
- sensory tentacle small; closer to nostrils
than the eye
-largest caecilians - 300 mm-800 mm
-S. America
- all viviparous
-R. Nussbaum at U of Mich
Family Scolecomorphidae
1 genus - Scolecomorphus
-E and W Africa (sub-Saharan Africa)
-tailless; eye covered with bone
-large tentacle can be extended
-oviducts w/ small eggs but bigger embryos
-ovoviviparous-developing embryo nourished by mom
Family Uraeotyphlidae
– Kerala Caecilians
1 genus – Uraeotyphlus
- 200 – 300 mm TL
- scales present in annular grooves
- short tail
- eat earthworms and insects