Indotyphlidae Lescure, Renous, and Gasc, 1986

Class: Amphibia > Order: Gymnophiona > Family: Indotyphlidae
24 species

Indotyphlini Lescure, Renous, and Gasc, 1986, Mem. Soc. Zool. France, 43: 164. Type genus: Indotyphlus Taylor, 1960. Coined as a tribe.

Grandisoniilae Lescure, Renous, and Gasc, 1986, Mem. Soc. Zool. France, 43: 164. Type genus: Grandisonia Taylor, 1968. Infrafamily. Synonymy by Wilkinson, San Mauro, Sherratt, and Gower, 2011, Zootaxa, 2874: 3.

Indotyphlidae — Wilkinson, San Mauro, Sherratt, and Gower, 2011, Zootaxa, 2874: 3. Recognition as a family

English Names

Indo-African Caecilians (Vitt and Caldwell, 2014, Herpetology, 4th Ed.: 454). 

Distribution

Southern and northeastern India [Gegeneophis]; Seychelles Islands; Cameroon; Ethiopia.

Comment

Wilkinson, San Mauro, Sherratt, and Gower, 2011, Zootaxa, 2874: 41-64, segregated the family from a larger Caeciliidae, and restricted it to Gegeneophis, Grandisonia, Hypogeophis, Idiocranium, Indotyphlus, Praslinia, and Sylvacaecilia. Pyron and Wiens, 2011, Mol. Phylogenet. Evol., 61: 543-583 (see comment in Amphibia record) on the basis of molecular evidence provided a tree consistent with the monophyly of this group, and with Gegeneophis (Indian) being the sister taxon of the group composed of the Seychelles taxa (Hypogeophis, Praslinia, and Grandisonia), although they did not include in their analysis Indotyphlus, Idiocranium, or Sylvacaecilia. 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 the placement of this taxon as the sister of Siphonopidae + Dermophiidae. Maddin, Russell, and Anderson, 2012, Zool. J. Linn. Soc., 166: 160-201, reported on the braincase of the family and confirmed its phylogenetic placement. Vitt and Caldwell, 2014, Herpetology, 4th Ed., provided a summary of range, diagnosis, life history, and taxonomy. 

Contained taxa (24 sp.):

Gegeneophis Peters, 1880 (12 sp.)
Grandisonia Taylor, 1968 (3 sp.)
Hypogeophis Peters, 1880 (4 sp.)
Idiocranium Parker, 1936 (1 sp.)
Indotyphlus Taylor, 1960 (2 sp.)
Praslinia Boulenger, 1909 (1 sp.)
Sylvacaecilia Wake, 1987 (1 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.