Dermophiidae

Dermophiidae
Mexican dermal root ( Dermophis mexicanus )
Systematics
Sub-stem : Vertebrates (vertebrata) Superclass : Jaw mouths (Gnathostomata) Row : Land vertebrates (Tetrapoda) without rank: Amphibians (Lissamphibia) Order : Sneak amphibian (Gymnophiona) Family : Dermophiidae
Scientific name
Dermophiidae
Taylor , 1969

The Dermophiidae are a family of sneak amphibians (Gymnophiona) that occurs in Central and South America and Africa. The taxon was set up in 1969 by the US herpetologist Edward Harrison Taylor as a subfamily Dermophiinae and should include all other sneak amphibians of the Caeciliidae family with the exception of the genera Caecilia and Oscaecilia . In 1984 the group was given family status by the Belgian herpetologist Raymond Ferdinand Louis-Philippe Laurent . However, the taxon turned out to be paraphyletic and did not find general acceptance. It was not until 2011 that the family was revalidated by Wilkinson, San Mauro, Sherratt & Gower, but with a different composition and a different diagnosis .

features

Like all sneak amphibians, the Dermophiidae are worm-like amphibians without limbs and with a strongly receding tail. They are the only viviparous (viviparous) sneak amphibians that have secondary annuli and are scaled. The annuli are circumferential skin folds through which the sneak amphibians are curled and which in turn can be divided into primary, secondary and tertiary annuli.

Phylogenetically, the Dermophiidae are defined as those sneak amphibians more closely related to Dermophis mexicanus than to Siphonops annulatus or Hypogeophis rostratus .

Genera and species

There are four genera and 14 species:

• Genus Dermophis
  • Dermophis costaricensis
  • Dermophis glandulosus
  • Dermophis gracilior
  • Dermophis mexicanus
  • Dermophis oaxacae
  • Dermophis occidentalis
  • Dermophis parviceps
• Genus Geotrypetes
  • Geotrypetes angeli
  • Geotrypetes pseudoangeli
  • Geotrypetes seraphini
• Genus Gymnopis
  • Gymnopis multiplicata
  • Gymnopis syntrema
• Genus Schistometopum
  • Schistometopum gregorii
  • Schistometopum thomense

Systematics

Within the sneak amphibians the Dermophiidae are the sister group of the Siphonopidae ; both families together are in a sister group relationship to the Indotyphlidae . (See sneaking amphibian: section taxonomy )

literature

• M. Wilkinson, D. San Mauro, E. Sherratt, DJ Gower: A nine-family classification of caecilians (Amphibia: Gymnophiona). In: Zootaxa . 2011. ISSN  1175-5334 (online)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Rachunliu G. Kamei, Diego San Mauro, David J. Gower, Ines Van Bocxlaer, Emma Sherratt, Ashish Thomas, Suresh Babu, Franky Bossuyt, Mark Wilkinson, SD Biju: Discovery of a New Family of Amphibians from Northeast India with Ancient Links to Africa. In: Proceedings of the Royal Society B . 2012, pp. 1–6. doi: 10.1098 / rspb.2012.0150

Web links

• List of species of the family Dermophiidae at Amphibiaweb