Search tool	Example of search string in box	What that means to the database
* = "wildcard". Allows a partial letter string to be entered and implies either no or various extension on this letter string	Hyl*	Will find all uses of "Hyl . . ." anywhere in a record: e.g., Hylarana, Hyla, Hylidae, Hylinae, Hylaedactyla.
* = "wildcard". Allows a partial letter string to be entered and implies either no or various extension on this letter string	*Hyla	Will find all uses of ". . . hyla" anywhere in a record: e.g., Hyla, Hylidae, Plectrohyla, Ptychadena hylaea, Adenomera hylaedactyla
	Hyla	Will find all records that contain stand-alone uses of Hyla: e.g., Hyla, Hyla arenicolor
Strings of words without quotation marks	Lithobates pipiens	Interprets this as "Lithobates OR pipiens" so will find the union of all records that contain either "Lithobates" or "pipiens": e.g., Lithobates omiltemanus, Hylorana pipiens
Strings of word with quotation marks	"Lithobates pipiens"	Interprets this as "Lithobates AND pipiens" so will return all records that have the character string "Lithobates pipiens" anywhere within a record: e.g., all members of the Lithobates pipiens complex.
AND statement. Means that the results of the search must include both words held together by an AND	Lithobates AND pipiens	Same as "Lithobates pipiens"
OR statement. Means that the results of the search will all records that have either of the terms held together by an OR	Lithobates OR "Costa Rica"	Recovers all records that contain the word "Lithobates" or "Costa Rica": 402 records inasmuch as this will include all records for the entire amphibian fauna of Costa Rica
Combining Boolean operators within the Basic Search box (AND, OR, NOT, quotation marks)	Lithobates AND "Costa Rica" NOT forreri	Recovers only records that contain the word Lithobates AND "Costa Rica", but excludes any record that contains the word "forreri" in any part of the record: 9 records
Printable HELP file

Search tool	Example of search string in box	What that means to the database
* = "wildcard". Allows a partial letter string to be entered and implies either no or various extension on this letter string	Hyl*	Will find all uses of "Hyl . . ." anywhere in a record: e.g., Hylarana, Hyla, Hylidae, Hylinae, Hylaedactyla.
* = "wildcard". Allows a partial letter string to be entered and implies either no or various extension on this letter string	*Hyla	Will find all uses of ". . . hyla" anywhere in a record: e.g., Hyla, Hylidae, Plectrohyla, Ptychadena hylaea, Adenomera hylaedactyla
Single word	Hyla	Will find all records that contain stand-alone uses of Hyla: e.g., Hyla, Hyla arenicolor
Strings of words without quotation marks	Lithobates pipiens	Interprets this as "Lithobates OR pipiens" so will find the union of all records that contain either "Lithobates" or "pipiens": e.g., Lithobates omiltemanus, Hylorana pipiens
Strings of word with quotation marks	"Lithobates pipiens"	Interprets this as "Lithobates AND pipiens" so will return all records that have the character string "Lithobates pipiens" anywhere within a record: e.g., all members of the Lithobates pipiens complex.
AND statement. Means that the results of the search must include both words held together by an AND	Lithobates AND pipiens	Same as "Lithobates pipiens"
OR statement. Means that the results of the search will all records that have either of the terms held together by an OR	Lithobates OR "Costa Rica"	Recovers all records that contain the word "Lithobates" or "Costa Rica": 402 records inasmuch as this will include all records for the entire amphibian fauna of Costa Rica
Combining Boolean operators within the Basic Search box (AND, OR, NOT, quotation marks)	Lithobates AND "Costa Rica" NOT forreri	Recovers only records that contain the word Lithobates AND "Costa Rica", but excludes any record that contains the word "forreri" in any part of the record: 9 records
Printable HELP file

Boulengerula Tornier, 1896

Class: Amphibia > Order: Gymnophiona > Family: Herpelidae > Genus: Boulengerula

9 species

Boulengerula Tornier, 1896, in Möbius (ed.), Deutsch Ost-Afr., 3: 164. Type species: Boulengerula boulengeri Tornier, 1896, by monotypy.

Afrocaecilia Taylor, 1968, Caecilians of the World: 321. Type species: Boulengerula taitanus Loveridge, 1935, by original designation. Synonymy by Nussbaum and Hinkel, 1994, Copeia, 1994: 754.

Common Names

Boulenger's Caecilians (Boulengerula: Frank and Ramus, 1995, Compl. Guide Scient. Common Names Amph. Rept. World: 23).

Usambara Bluish-gray Caecilians (Boulengerula: Ananjeva, Borkin, Darevsky, and Orlov, 1988, Dict. Amph. Rept. Five Languages: 12).

African Caecilians (Afrocaecilia [no longer recognized]: Frank and Ramus, 1995, Compl. Guide Scient. Common Names Amph. Rept. World: 23).

African Caecilians (Channing and Rödel, 2019, Field Guide Frogs & Other Amph. Afr.: 28).

Distribution

Tanzania, Kenya, Rwanda, and Malawi, to be expected in Dem. Rep. Congo, Zambia, and Burundi.

Comment

See Nussbaum and Hinkel, 1994, Copeia, 1994: 750-760, for revision and accounts. See comment under Herpele. Wilkinson, Loader, Müller, and Gower, 2004, Mitt. Mus. Naturkd. Berlin, Zool., 80: 41-51, discussed the phylogenetics within Boulengerula, suggested that the synonymy of Afrocaecilia with Boulengerula was premature, and provided a key to the species. Channing and Howell, 2006, Amph. E. Afr.: 345-346, provided an account for an undescribed species (Milky Caecilian) from the West Usambara and Nguru mountains of Tanzania. Wilkinson and Nussbaum, 2006, In Exbrayat (ed.), Reprod. Biol. Phylog. Gymnophiona: 39-78 [59], diagnosed the taxon and suggested that the taxon is monophyletic. Menegon, Doggart, and Owen, 2008, Acta Herpetol., Firenze, 3: 107-127, reported an undescribed species from the Nguru Mountains of eastern Tanzania. Gower, Papadopoulou, Doherty-Bone, Pupin, San Mauro, Loader, and Wilkinson, 2011, Zootaxa, 2767:14-24, discussed the molecular systematics of this taxon as well as its relationship to Afrocaecilia. Loader, Wilkinson, Cotton, Measey, Menegon, Howell, Müller, and Gower, 2011, Herpetol. J., 21: 5-16, reported on molecular systematics of the species. Channing and Rödel, 2019, Field Guide Frogs & Other Amph. Afr.: 28–30, provided brief accounts, photographs, and range maps for the species.

Contained taxa (9 sp.):

Boulengerula boulengeri Tornier, 1896

Boulengerula changamwensis Loveridge, 1932

Boulengerula denhardti Nieden, 1912

Boulengerula endauensis Malonza and Wasonga, 2024

Boulengerula fischeri Nussbaum and Hinkel, 1994

Boulengerula niedeni Müller, Measey, Loader, and Malonza, 2005

Boulengerula spawlsi Wilkinson, Malonza, Campbell, and Loader, 2017

Boulengerula taitana Loveridge, 1935

Boulengerula uluguruensis Barbour and Loveridge, 1928

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