Herpelidae Laurent, 1984

Class: Amphibia > Order: Gymnophiona > Family: Herpelidae
11 species

Herpelinae Laurent, 1984, Acta Zool. Lilloana, 37: 199–200. Type genus: Herpele Peters, 1880.

Herpeloidi — Lescure, Renous, and Gasc, 1986, Mem. Soc. Zool. France, 43: 163. Supertribe.

Herpelini — Lescure, Renous, and Gasc, 1986, Mem. Soc. Zool. France, 43: 163. Tribe.

Herpeliti — Lescure, Renous, and Gasc, 1986, Mem. Soc. Zool. France, 43: 164. Subtribe.

Afrocaeciliiti Lescure, Renous, and Gasc, 1986, Mem. Soc. Zool. France, 43: 164. Type genus: Afrocaecilia Taylor, 1968. Coined as a subtribe. Synonymy by Wilkinson, San Mauro, Sherratt, and Gower, 2011, Zootaxa, 2874: 3.

Herpelidae —  Wilkinson, San Mauro, Sherratt, and Gower, 2011, Zootaxa, 2874: 47. 

Common Names

African Caecilians (Vitt and Caldwell, 2014, Herpetology, 4th Ed.: 451; Channing and Rödel, 2019, Field Guide Frogs & Other Amph. Afr.: 18). 

Distribution

Southeastern Nigeria east to western Central African Republic and south to extreme western Dem. Rep. Congo, possibly into the adjacent Cabinda enclave of Angola; Tanzania, Kenya, Rwanda, and Malawi, to be expected in Uganda, Dem. Rep. Congo, Zambia, and Burundi.

Comment

Wilkinson, San Mauro, Sherratt, and Gower, 2011, Zootaxa, 2874: 41–64, redefined and redelimited the taxon to include only Boulengerula and Herpele, thereby rendering it monophyletic. Pyron and Wiens, 2011, Mol. Phylogenet. Evol., 61: 543–583 (see comment in Amphibia record) on the basis of molecular evidence confirmed the monophyly of the group and provided a tree that suggested that Herpelidae is the sister taxon of all caecilians with the exception of Scolecomorphidae, Ichthyophiidae, and Rhinatrematidae. Blackburn and Wake, 2011, In Zhang (ed.), Zootaxa, 3148: 39–55, briefly reviewed the taxonomic history of this taxon. San Mauro, Gower, Cotton, Zardoya, Wilkinson, and Massingham, 2012, Syst. Biol., 61: 661–674, confirmed this phylogenetic placement. Maddin, Russell, and Anderson, 2012, Zool. J. Linn. Soc., 166: 160–201, reported on the braincase of the family and confirmed the phylogenetic placement of the family. Vitt and Caldwell, 2014, Herpetology, 4th Ed., provided a summary of range, diagnosis, life history, and taxonomy. Frétey, Dewynter, and Blanc, 2011, Clé de détermination, Amph. Afri. Centr. Angola: 1–232, provided a key for identification in Gabon and Equatorial Guinea. Dubois, Ohler, and Pyron, 2021, Megataxa, 5: 1–738, considered Herpelidae to be a subfamily of Caeciliidae, and included Chikilidae as a tribe of their Herpelinae.  

Contained taxa (11 sp.):

Boulengerula Tornier, 1896 (9 sp.)
Herpele Peters, 1880 (2 sp.)

External links:

Please note: these links will take you to external websites not affiliated with the American Museum of Natural History. We are not responsible for their content.