Ichthyophis kohtaoensis Taylor, 1960

Class: Amphibia > Order: Gymnophiona > Family: Ichthyophiidae > Genus: Ichthyophis > Species: Ichthyophis kohtaoensis

Ichthyophis kohtaoensis Taylor, 1960, Univ. Kansas Sci. Bull., 40: 110. Holotype: USNM 72293, by original designation. Type locality: "Koh Tao Island, west side, Gulf of Siam", Thailand.

Ichthyophis kotaoensis — Cochran, 1961, Bull. U.S. Natl. Mus., 220: 3. Incorrect subsequent spelling.

Ichthyophis bannanica Yang, 1984, Acta Herpetol. Sinica, Chengdu, N.S.,, 3 (2): 73-75. Holotype: KIZ 74001, by original designation. Type locality: "Mengla County, Xishuangbanna, Yunnan, altitude 600 m", China. Synonymy by Nishikawa, Matsui, Yoshikawa, Khonsue, Pomchote, Hibino, Nguyen, and Sanamxay, 2021, Alytes, 38: 1. 

Ichthyophis bannanicus — Ye, Fei, and Hu, 1993, Rare and Economic Amph. China: 21.

Epicrium bannanicum — Dubois, Ohler, and Pyron, 2021, Megataxa, 5: 407. 

Common Names

Koa Tao Island Caecilian (Frank and Ramus, 1995, Compl. Guide Scient. Common Names Amph. Rept. World: 25).

Yellow-striped Caecilian (Ananjeva, Borkin, Darevsky, and Orlov, 1988, Dict. Amph. Rept. Five Languages: 16).

Koh Tao Snake Frog (Nutphund, 2001, Amph. Thailand: 51).

Common Caecilian (Nutphund, 2001, Amph. Thailand: 51).

Koh Tao Caecilian (Chan-ard, 2003, Photograph. Guide Amph. Thailand: 74).

Kohtao Striped Caecilian (Zug and Mulcahy, 2020 "2019", Amph. Rept. S. Tanintharyi: 22). 

Mengla County Caecilian (Ichthyophis bannanicus [no longer recognized]: Frank and Ramus, 1995, Compl. Guide Scient. Common Names Amph. Rept. World: 25).

Bannan Caecilian (Ichthyophis bannanicus [no longer recognized]: Fei, 1999, Atlas Amph. China: 24).

Banna Caecilian (Ichthyophis bannanicus [no longer recognized]: Nguyen, Ho, and Nguyen, 2005, Checklist Amph. Rept. Vietnam: 10).

Banna Striped Caecilian (Ichthyophis bannanicus [no longer recognized]: Zug, 2022, Smithson. Contrib. Zool., 653: 6).

Distribution

Southern and western Yunnan, central and southern Guangdong west through Guangxi to western Yunnan, southern China, and into montane northern Vietnam (Cao Bang and Tuyen Quang provinces south to Hoa Binh, Dong Thap provinces, and possibly to Ca Cau Province), Laos, northern and eastern Thailand (Phu Wan and Mae Hong Song); presumably to be found in adjacent northeastern Myanmar (Kachin and Shan); peninsular Myanmar; Koh Tao I. and mainland Thailand (Chiang Mai in the north south to Surat Thani in the south); east to Champasak Province, Laos, and eastern Cambodia (Cardamom Mountains and Ta Veng District in Ratanakiri Province; see comment).

Geographic Occurrence

Natural Resident: Cambodia, China, People's Republic of, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam

Comment

See account by Taylor, 1962, Univ. Kansas Sci. Bull., 43: 592–595. Dünker, Wake, and Olson, 2000, J. Morphol., 243: 3–34, provided a staging table and larval descriptions. Nutphund, 2001, Amph. Thailand: 51, provided a brief account and photo, and suggested that the species is found throughout Thailand, reporting them from Bangkok, Nakhon Nayok Province, and Prachuap Khiri Khan Province. Chan-ard, 2003, Photograph. Guide Amph. Thailand: 74–75, provided a very brief account, map for Thailand, and photograph. Teynié, David, Ohler, and Luanglath, 2004, Hamadryad, 29: 37, provided a record for "Ichthyophis cf. kohtaoensis" and comments for Laos. Stuart, Sok, and Neang, 2006, Raffles Bull. Zool., 54: 143–144, provided a record for eastern Cambodia. Neang and Holden, 2008, Field Guide Amph. Cambodia: 41, provided a brief account of identification, ecology, and range in Cambodia. Chan-ard, Cota, and Makchai, 2011, Amph. E. Region Thailand: 25–26, provided a photograph and account for eastern Thailand and provided a range statement for the entire country (p. 123). Nishikawa, Matsui, Yong, Ahmad, Yambun Imbun, Belabut, Sudin, Hamidy, Orlov, Ota, Yoshikawa, Tominaga, and Shimada, 2012, Mol. Phylogenet. Evol., 63: 714–723, commented on the distinctiveness of this lineage (as Ichthyophis cf. kohtaoensis) from other members of this clade (e.g., their Ichthyophis cf. supachaii, Ichthyophis cf. hypocyaneus, and Ichthyophis unnamed species 1). Mulcahy, Lee, Miller, Chand, Thura, and Zug, 2018, ZooKeys, 757: 96, provided a genetically confirmed record of Ichthyophis cf. kohtaoensis from Tanintharyi, southern Myanmar. Niyomwan, Srisom, and Pawangkhanant, 2019, Field Guide Amph. Thailand: 106–107, provided a brief account (photograph, habitat, and range) for Thailand (in Thai). Zug and Mulcahy, 2020 "2019", Amph. Rept. S. Tanintharyi: 22, provided a brief account for South Tanintharyi, peninsular Myanmar and doubted that the species was found outside of the north-central par of the Malay Peninsula. Makchai, Chuaynkern, Safoowong, Chuachat, and Cota, 2020, Amph. N. Thailand: 194, provided photographs, a brief account for Thailand, and a range map. Poyarkov, Nguyen, Popov, Geissler, Pawangkhanant, Neang, Suwannapoom, and Orlov, 2021, Russ. J. Herpetol., 28 (3A): 68, suggested that records from Laos and Cambodia require confirmation. Zug, 2022, Smithson. Contrib. Zool., 653: 6, discussed habitat and expected (as Ichthyophis bannanicus) distribution in Myanmar, as well as the habitat and range of Ichthyophis kohtaoensis prior to the synonymy of Ichthyophis bannanicus. Ziegler, Ong, Hoang, Pham, and Nguyen, 2022, Acad. J. Biol., 44: 114, referred their earlier record of Ichthyophis sp. (Ziegler, 2002, Amph. Rept. Tieflandfeuchtwald–Schutzgebietes Vietnam: 1–342) from Ke Go Nature Reserve, Ha Tinh Province, Vietnam, to Ichthyophis kohtaoensis. Cook-Price, Makchai, Hasin, and Suwanwaree, 2024, ZooKeys, 1207: 167–183, reported the species and its natural history on Ko Pha-ngan I., Surat Thani Province, Thailand. 

Ichthyophis bannanicus is related to Ichthyophis glutinosus, according to the original publication. See Yang, 1991, Amph. Fauna of Yunnan: 21–23, and Fei, 1999, Atlas Amph. China, for figure, brief account, and distribution map as Ichthyophis bannaicus. Zhang and Wen, 2000, Amph. Guangxi: 16, provided an account (as Ichthyophis bannanicus) and a record for Guangxi. Orlov, Murphy, Ananjeva, Ryabov, and Ho, 2002, Russ. J. Herpetol., 9: 100, commented on the range (as Ichthyophis bannanicus) in Vietnam. See also brief account (as Ichthyophis bannanicus) by Zhao and Yang, 1997, Amph. Rept. Hengduan Mountains Region: 27. Nguyen, Ho, and Nguyen, 2005, Checklist Amph. Rept. Vietnam: 10, provided records (as Ichthyophis bannanicus) for Vietnam and (p. 147) a photograph. Gower, Bahir, Mapatuna, Pethiyagoda, Raheem, and Wilkinson, 2005, Raffles Bull. Zool., Suppl., 12: 153–161, suggested on the basis of a DNA sequence study that an unnamed species from southern Thailand is related closely to this species (this probably obviated by the synonymy of Ichthyophis bannanicus with Ichthyohis kohtaoensis). Yang, 2008, in Yang and Rao (ed.), Amph. Rept. Yunnan: 13, provided a brief account (as Ichthyophis bannanicus) for Yunnan, China. Fei, Ye, and Jiang, 2010, Colored Atlas of Chinese Amph.: 34–35, provided a brief account (as Ichthyophis bannanicus) and several photographs of this species. Li, Luo, Bei, Meng, and Zhang, 2010, Acta Zootaxon. Sinica, 35: 494–503, reported on molecular phylogeography (as Ichthyophis bannanicus) within China. Fei, Ye, and Jiang, 2012, Colored Atlas Chinese Amph. Distr.: 28–30, provided an account (as Ichthyophis bannanicus), photographs, and map for China. Nishikawa, Matsui, Yong, Ahmad, Yambun Imbun, Belabut, Sudin, Hamidy, Orlov, Ota, Yoshikawa, Tominaga, and Shimada, 2012, Mol. Phylogenet. Evol., 63: 720, reported Ichthyophis cf. bannanicus from Phu Wan and Mae Hong Son, Thailand. Hecht, Pham, Nguyen, Nguyen, Bonkowski, and Ziegler, 2013, Biodiversity J., 4: 507–552, reported (as Ichthyophis bannanicus) a record from Tay Yen Tu Nature Reserve, Bac Giang Province, northeastern Vietnam and discussed the range. Ngo and Hoang, 2014, Tap-Chi-Sinh-Hoc, 30: 55, reported the species (as Ichthyophis bannanicus) from Dong Thap province, southern Vietnam. Wang, Luo, Meng, Bei, Song, Meng, Li, and Zhang, 2015, PLoS One, 10(4: e0125770): 1–18, provided a map and molecular phylogeography study suggested 2 lineages, separated by the Red River of Yunnan (China) and northern Vietnam. Geissler, Poyarkov, Grismer, Nguyen, An, Neang, Kupfer, Ziegler, Böhme, and Müller, 2015, Organisms Divers. Evol., 15: 152, implied via their cytb ML tree that this nominal species (as Ichthyophis bannanicus) may be composed of two lineages. See account (as Ichthyophis bannanicus) by Fei and Ye, 2016, Amph. China, 1: 140–145. Li, 2011, Amph. Rept. Guangdong: 14, provided a brief account for Guangdong, China, and photograph.Nanohyla) group. Do, Ngo, and Nguyen, 2017, Hue Univ. J. Sci: Nat. Sci., 126: 91, noted that an earlier record (as Ichthyophis bannanicus) from Phu Yen Province, Vietnam, is referrable to Ichthyophis nguyenorum. Niyomwan, Srisom, and Pawangkhanant, 2019, Field Guide Amph. Thailand: 104–105, provided a brief account (photograph, habitat, and range) for Thailand (in Thai). Poyarkov, Nguyen, Popov, Geissler, Pawangkhanant, Neang, Suwannapoom, and Orlov, 2021, Russ. J. Herpetol., 28 (3A): 68, included Cambodia within the range (as Ichthyophis bannanicus) without comment. Nishikawa, Matsui, Yoshikawa, Khonsue, Pomchote, Hibino, Nguyen, and Sanamxay, 2021, Alytes, 38: 1–17, placed Ichthyophis bannaicus into the synonymy of Ichthyophis kohtaoensis on the basis of mtDNA phylogeography.  Ngo, Nguyen, Phan, Nguyen, and Ziegler, 2022, Biodiversity J., 13: 3–17, reported Ichthyophis cf. bannanicus from Ca Mau Province, southernmost Vietnam. 

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