Uraeotyphlidae

Uraeotyphlus oxyurus

Uraeotyphlus is a genus of small caecilians ( Gymnophiona ), which only occurs in southwestern India, especially in the soils of tropical forests in the Western Ghats in Kerala.

Features

Uraeotyphlus species are about 30 inches long. They are dark gray or brown and resemble the fish rooting ( Ichthyophiidae ) that occur in the same habitat. As an original feature is that the skull is made ​​up of many bones. In contrast to the terminal mouth of the fish rooting their mouth is under constant. Their tentacles are far from the eyes, below the nostrils. The body is ringed by two -split skin folds ( annuli ) and covered with numerous scales. Tertiary annuli are missing. Uraeotyphlus species have a short tail. How fish burrowing they have Tracheallungen.

Way of life

Life and reproduction of the Uraeotyphlus species are largely unknown. They live burrowing into the forest floors of their range and reproduce just like the nose and the fish rooting oviparous ( egg- laying ). For Uraeotyphlus oxyurus free-living larvae are detected.

System

The genus is the only one thus monotypic family Uraeotyphlidae and the sister group of the fish rooting. Similarities between the two taxa are the outside of the heart clearly visible separation of the two arteries and a circumorbitales postfrontal.

Species

There are seven types:

• Uraeotyphlus Gansi
• Uraeotyphlus interruptus
• Uraeotyphlus malabaricus
• Uraeotyphlus Menoni
• Uraeotyphlus narayani
• Uraeotyphlus oommeni
• Uraeotyphlus oxyurus