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Herpelidae
Herpelidae are a family of caecilians, sometimes known as the African caecilians. They are found in Sub-Saharan Africa. Like other caecilians, they superficially resemble worms or snakes. They are the sister group to the newly discovered Chikilidae. Distribution Herpelidae occur primarily in Central and East Africa, barely reaching West Africa (southeastern Nigeria), and northern parts of Southern Africa (Malawi, possibly Zambia). Genera There are two genera with ten species in total: * ''Boulengerula'' Tornier, 1896 – Boulenger's caecilians, Usambara bluish-gray caecilians (8 species) * ''Herpele ''Herpele'' is a genus of caecilians in the family Herpelidae. They are endemic to Central and Western Africa (from southeastern Nigeria east to western Central African Republic and south to western Democratic Republic of the Congo, possibly to A ...'' Peters, 1880 – Congo caecilians (2 species) References {{Taxonbar, from=Q3086167 Amphibian families Amphibians of Sub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Herpelidae
Herpelidae are a family of caecilians, sometimes known as the African caecilians. They are found in Sub-Saharan Africa. Like other caecilians, they superficially resemble worms or snakes. They are the sister group to the newly discovered Chikilidae. Distribution Herpelidae occur primarily in Central and East Africa, barely reaching West Africa (southeastern Nigeria), and northern parts of Southern Africa (Malawi, possibly Zambia). Genera There are two genera with ten species in total: * ''Boulengerula'' Tornier, 1896 – Boulenger's caecilians, Usambara bluish-gray caecilians (8 species) * ''Herpele ''Herpele'' is a genus of caecilians in the family Herpelidae. They are endemic to Central and Western Africa (from southeastern Nigeria east to western Central African Republic and south to western Democratic Republic of the Congo, possibly to A ...'' Peters, 1880 – Congo caecilians (2 species) References {{Taxonbar, from=Q3086167 Amphibian families Amphibians of Sub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Boulengerula
''Boulengerula'' is a genus of amphibians in the family Herpelidae. They are found in East Africa. They are sometimes known as Boulenger's caecilians or Usambara bluish-gray caecilians. Ecology ''Boulengerula taitana'' feeds on earthworms, termite Termites are small insects that live in colonies and have distinct castes (eusocial) and feed on wood or other dead plant matter. Termites comprise the infraorder Isoptera, or alternatively the epifamily Termitoidae, within the order Blatto ...s, dipteran larvae and other soil macrofauna. Presumably other ''Boulengerula'' have similar diets. Species There are eight species: References Amphibians of Africa Amphibian genera Taxa named by Gustav Tornier Taxonomy articles created by Polbot {{Caecilian-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Herpele Squalostoma
''Herpele squalostoma'' is a species of caecilian in the family Herpelidae. It is also known by the common name Congo caecilian. It is found in Central and extreme easternmost West Africa (southeastern Nigeria, Cameroon, western Central African Republic, Equatorial Guinea (including Bioko), Gabon, Republic of the Congo, western Democratic Republic of the Congo, and possibly the Cabinda Province of Angola). Description The holotype measures . The body is cylindrical and wide. The snout is prominent. The eyes are covered with bone and not visible externally. There are fewer than 135 primary annuli (116–132 in a sample of 112 specimens) and 12–16 secondary annuli that do not reach round the body. In preservative, the body is dark olive in colour and is marked with minute yellowish spots. Reproduction A female measuring in total length has been unearthened with a clutch of 16 young in moist soil some below the surface. The young measured about in total length. The largest kn ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Caecilian
Caecilians (; ) are a group of limbless, vermiform or serpentine amphibians. They mostly live hidden in the ground and in stream substrates, making them the least familiar order of amphibians. Caecilians are mostly distributed in the tropics of South and Central America, Africa, and southern Asia. Their diet consists of small subterranean creatures such as earthworms. All modern caecilians and their closest fossil relatives are grouped as a clade, Apoda , within the larger group Gymnophiona , which also includes more primitive extinct caecilian-like amphibians. The name derives from the Greek words γυμνος (''gymnos'', naked) and οφις (''ophis'', snake), as the caecilians were originally thought to be related to snakes. The body is cylindrical dark brown or bluish black in colour. The skin is slimy and bears grooves or ringlike markings. Description Caecilians completely lack limbs, making the smaller species resemble worms, while the larger species, with lengths up ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Herpele
''Herpele'' is a genus of caecilians in the family Herpelidae. They are endemic to Central and Western Africa (from southeastern Nigeria east to western Central African Republic and south to western Democratic Republic of the Congo, possibly to Angola). At least ''Herpele squalostoma'' is probably oviparous and provides parental care Parental care is a behavioural and evolutionary strategy adopted by some animals, involving a parental investment being made to the evolutionary fitness of offspring. Patterns of parental care are widespread and highly diverse across the animal k ...: the young feed on their mother's skin (they are "dermatophagous"). Species There are two recognized species: References Amphibians of Sub-Saharan Africa Amphibian genera Taxa named by Wilhelm Peters Taxonomy articles created by Polbot {{caecilian-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Raymond Laurent
Raymond Ferdinand Louis-Philippe Laurent (16 May 1917 – 3 February 2005) was a Belgian herpetologist, who specialized in African and South American amphibians and reptiles. He published more than 200 scientific articles and book chapters. Several species have been named after him, most recently ''Phymaturus, Phymaturus laurenti'' in 2010. Additional species of reptiles named in his honor include ''Chironius laurenti'', ''Liolaemus, Liolaemus laurenti'', and ''Mehelya, Mehelya laurenti''.Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). ''The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. . ("Laurent", p. 152). References Further reading * ''(First page freely available online, remainder available to subscribers only)''. 1917 births 2005 deaths Belgian herpetologists 20th-century Belgian zoologists {{zoologist-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Family (biology)
Family ( la, familia, plural ') is one of the eight major hierarchical taxonomic ranks in Linnaean taxonomy. It is classified between order and genus. A family may be divided into subfamilies, which are intermediate ranks between the ranks of family and genus. The official family names are Latin in origin; however, popular names are often used: for example, walnut trees and hickory trees belong to the family Juglandaceae, but that family is commonly referred to as the "walnut family". What belongs to a family—or if a described family should be recognized at all—are proposed and determined by practicing taxonomists. There are no hard rules for describing or recognizing a family, but in plants, they can be characterized on the basis of both vegetative and reproductive features of plant species. Taxonomists often take different positions about descriptions, and there may be no broad consensus across the scientific community for some time. The publishing of new data and opini ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sub-Saharan Africa
Sub-Saharan Africa is, geographically, the area and regions of the continent of Africa that lies south of the Sahara. These include West Africa, East Africa, Central Africa, and Southern Africa. Geopolitically, in addition to the List of sovereign states and dependent territories in Africa, African countries and territories that are situated fully in that specified region, the term may also include polities that only have part of their territory located in that region, per the definition of the United Nations (UN). This is considered a non-standardized geographical region with the number of countries included varying from 46 to 48 depending on the organization describing the region (e.g. UN, WHO, World Bank, etc.). The Regions of the African Union, African Union uses a different regional breakdown, recognizing all 55 member states on the continent - grouping them into 5 distinct and standard regions. The term serves as a grouping counterpart to North Africa, which is instead ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sister Group
In phylogenetics, a sister group or sister taxon, also called an adelphotaxon, comprises the closest relative(s) of another given unit in an evolutionary tree. Definition The expression is most easily illustrated by a cladogram: Taxon A and taxon B are sister groups to each other. Taxa A and B, together with any other extant or extinct descendants of their most recent common ancestor (MRCA), form a monophyletic group, the clade AB. Clade AB and taxon C are also sister groups. Taxa A, B, and C, together with all other descendants of their MRCA form the clade ABC. The whole clade ABC is itself a subtree of a larger tree which offers yet more sister group relationships, both among the leaves and among larger, more deeply rooted clades. The tree structure shown connects through its root to the rest of the universal tree of life. In cladistic standards, taxa A, B, and C may represent specimens, species, genera, or any other taxonomic units. If A and B are at the same taxonomic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chikilidae
Chikilidae is a family of Indian caecilians, the 10th and most recent (2012) family of caecilians (legless amphibians) to be identified, although the type species, ''Chikila fulleri'' (formerly ''Herpele fulleri'') was first described in 1904. The discovery that this was a separate lineage resulted from genetic analyses of specimens collected during about 250 soil-digging expeditions over five years that covered every Northeast Indian state. A team of biologists led by University of Delhi herpetologist Sathyabhama Das Biju described the family as representing as many as seven species apparently endemic to the region. In September 2012, some of these species were also found in Lawachara National Park in the Sylhet region of northeastern Bangladesh. The family's lineage is believed to have originated in Africa, where their closest living relatives are found. Chikilids grow to about in length. They have very limited eyesight and skulls adapted for burrowing. Their eggs hatch into a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Amphibian Families
Amphibians are four-limbed and ectothermic vertebrates of the class Amphibia. All living amphibians belong to the group Lissamphibia. They inhabit a wide variety of habitats, with most species living within terrestrial, fossorial, arboreal or freshwater aquatic ecosystems. Thus amphibians typically start out as larvae living in water, but some species have developed behavioural adaptations to bypass this. The young generally undergo metamorphosis from larva with gills to an adult air-breathing form with lungs. Amphibians use their skin as a secondary respiratory surface and some small terrestrial salamanders and frogs lack lungs and rely entirely on their skin. They are superficially similar to reptiles like lizards but, along with mammals and birds, reptiles are amniotes and do not require water bodies in which to breed. With their complex reproductive needs and permeable skins, amphibians are often ecological indicators; in recent decades there has been a dramatic decli ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Amphibians Of Sub-Saharan Africa
Amphibians are tetrapod, four-limbed and ectothermic vertebrates of the Class (biology), class Amphibia. All living amphibians belong to the group Lissamphibia. They inhabit a wide variety of habitats, with most species living within terrestrial animal, terrestrial, fossorial, arboreal or freshwater aquatic ecosystems. Thus amphibians typically start out as larvae living in water, but some species have developed behavioural adaptations to bypass this. The young generally undergo metamorphosis from larva with gills to an adult air-breathing form with lungs. Amphibians use their skin as a secondary respiratory surface and some small terrestrial salamanders and frogs lack lungs and rely entirely on their skin. They are superficially similar to reptiles like lizards but, along with mammals and birds, reptiles are amniotes and do not require water bodies in which to breed. With their complex reproductive needs and permeable skins, amphibians are often ecological indicators; in re ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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