Siphonopidae Bonaparte, 1850

Class: Amphibia > Order: Gymnophiona > Family: Siphonopidae
28 species

Siphonopina Bonaparte, 1850, Conspect. Syst. Herpetol. Amph.: 1 p. Type genus: Siphonops Wagler, 1828.

Siphonopinae — Dubois, 1984, Alytes, 3: 113.

Siphonopidae — Dubois, 1984, Alytes, 3: 113; Lescure, Renous, and Gasc, 1986, Mem. Soc. Zool. France, 43: 163; Wilkinson, San Mauro, Sherratt, and Gower, 2011, Zootaxa, 2874: 3.

Siphonopoides — Lescure, Renous, and Gasc, 1986, Mem. Soc. Zool. France, 43: 162. Hyperfamily.

Siphonopoidea — Lescure, Renous, and Gasc, 1986, Mem. Soc. Zool. France, 43: 162. Superfamily.

Siphonopoidae — Lescure, Renous, and Gasc, 1986, Mem. Soc. Zool. France, 43: 163. Epifamily.

Siphonopinae — Lescure, Renous, and Gasc, 1986, Mem. Soc. Zool. France, 43: 163. Subfamily.

Siphonopini — Lescure, Renous, and Gasc, 1986, Mem. Soc. Zool. France, 43: 166. Tribe.

Brasilotyphlili Lescure, Renous, and Gasc, 1986, Mem. Soc. Zool. France, 43: 164. Type genus: Brasilotyphlus Taylor, 1968. Coined as an infratribe.

Siphonopoidi — Lescure, Renous, and Gasc, 1986, Mem. Soc. Zool. France, 43: 164. Supertribe.

Pseudosiphonopiti Lescure, Renous, and Gasc, 1986, Mem. Soc. Zool. France, 43: 166. Type genus: Pseudosiphonops Taylor, 1968. Coined as a subtribe.

Pseudosiphonopili — Lescure, Renous, and Gasc, 1986, Mem. Soc. Zool. France, 43: 166. Infratribe.

Siphonopiti — Lescure, Renous, and Gasc, 1986, Mem. Soc. Zool. France, 43: 167. Subtribe.

Siphonopina — Dubois, Ohler, and Pyron, 2021, Megataxa, 5: 270. Subtribe. 

Siphonopinia — Dubois, Ohler, and Pyron, 2021, Megataxa, 5: 270. Infratribe. 

Microcaeciliinoa Dubois, Ohler, and Pyron, 2021, Megataxa, 5: 271. Type genus: Microcaecilia Taylor, 1968. Hypotribe. 

Siphonopinoa — Dubois, Ohler, and Pyron, 2021, Megataxa, 5: 271. Hypotribe. 

Common Names

None noted.

Distribution

South American from the Magdalena Valley of northwestern Colombia through southern Venezuela to the Guianas and Amazonian Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, and Brazil south to to Misiones, Argentina, and Paraguay.

Comment

Wilkinson, San Mauro, Sherratt, and Gower, 2011, Zootaxa, 2874: 41-64, segregated and redelimited this monophyletic family out of a paraphyletic Caeciliidae. Pyron and Wiens, 2011, Mol. Phylogenet. Evol., 61: 543-583 (see comment in Amphibia record) on the basis of molecular evidence suggested phylogenetic results consistent with monophyly of Siphonopidae and its position as the sister taxon of Dermophiidae, but the analysis did not include Brasilotyphlus, Microcaecilia, Mimosiphonops, or Parvicaecilia. Blackburn and Wake, 2011, In Zhang (ed.), Zootaxa, 3148: 39-55, briefly reviewed the taxonomic history of this taxon. Maddin, Russell, and Anderson, 2012, Zool. J. Linn. Soc., 166: 160-201, reported on the braincase of the family and confirmed its placement as the sister taxon of Dermophiidae. Vitt and Caldwell, 2014, Herpetology, 4th Ed., provided a summary of range, diagnosis, life history, and taxonomy. Maciel, Castro, Sturaro, Silva, Ferreira, Santos, Risse-Quaioto, Barboza, Oliveira, Sampaio, and Schneider, 2019, Zool. Anz., 281: 76–83, reported on the systematics of the family, reporting a topology of (Microcaecilia + Brasilotyphlus) + (Siphonops + Luetkenotyphlus). Dubois, Ohler, and Pyron, 2021, Megataxa, 5: 1–738, treated Siphonopidae as a subtribe of a very enlarged Caeciliidae, although the need for this rank modification is unclear.

Contained taxa (28 sp.):

Brasilotyphlus Taylor, 1968 (3 sp.)
Luetkenotyphlus Taylor, 1968 (3 sp.)
Microcaecilia Taylor, 1968 (16 sp.)
Mimosiphonops Taylor, 1968 (2 sp.)
Siphonops Wagler, 1828 (4 sp.)

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