Sylvacaecilia
''Sylvacaecilia'' is a monotypic genus of caecilian in the family Grandisoniidae. The only species is ''Sylvacaecilia grandisonae'', also known as the Aleku caecilian or Ethiopian caecilian. It is endemic to southwestern Ethiopia and known from the Gambela, Oromia, and Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples' Regions. Taxonomy ''Sylvacaecilia grandisonae'' was described by Edward Harrison Taylor in 1970 as ''Geotrypetes grandisonae'', although he noted that the generic assignment was provisional. Because of significant differences in morphology and life history in comparison to other ''Geotrypetes'' species, it was moved to its own, monotypic genus ''Sylvacaecilia'' by Marvalee Wake in 1987. Etymology The generic name ''Sylvacaecilia'' is derived from Greek ''sylva'', referring to the forest habitat of these animals, and Latin ''caecilia'', in reference to the taxon. The specific name ''grandisonae'' honours Miss Alice G. C. Grandison, a Curator of Herpetology at Natura ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Indotyphlidae
The Grandisoniidae are a family of common caecilians found in Africa, Seychelles and India. Like other caecilians, they superficially resemble worms or snakes. The family was formerly known as Indotyphlidae. Taxonomy The genera in this family were originally placed in family Caeciliidae. In 2011, the genera '' Gegeneophis'', '' Grandisonia'', '' Hypogeophis'', '' Idiocranium'', ''Indotyphlus'', '' Praslinia'' and '' Sylvacaecilia'' were segregated into family Indotyphlidae, named after the tribe Indotyphlini, which was used by Lescure et al (1986) for the Indian genera, ''Gegeneophis'' and ''Indotyphlus''. However, it was later pointed out that the name Grandisoniidae is the appropriate family-group name because, according to rules of the Nomenclatural Code, a name published at higher rank, Grandisoniinae, has precedence over a name of lower rank published in the same work, Indotyphlini.Dubois, Ohler, and Pyron, 2021, Megataxa, 5: 1–738 Genera and species *Genus '' Geg ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Grandisoniidae
The Grandisoniidae are a family of common caecilians found in Africa, Seychelles and India. Like other caecilians, they superficially resemble worms or snakes. The family was formerly known as Indotyphlidae. Taxonomy The genera in this family were originally placed in family Caeciliidae. In 2011, the genera '' Gegeneophis'', '' Grandisonia'', '' Hypogeophis'', '' Idiocranium'', ''Indotyphlus'', '' Praslinia'' and ''Sylvacaecilia'' were segregated into family Indotyphlidae, named after the tribe Indotyphlini, which was used by Lescure et al (1986) for the Indian genera, ''Gegeneophis'' and ''Indotyphlus''. However, it was later pointed out that the name Grandisoniidae is the appropriate family-group name because, according to rules of the Nomenclatural Code, a name published at higher rank, Grandisoniinae, has precedence over a name of lower rank published in the same work, Indotyphlini.Dubois, Ohler, and Pyron, 2021, Megataxa, 5: 1–738 Genera and species *Genus '' Gege ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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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]   |
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Marvalee Wake
Marvalee Hendricks Wake (born July 31, 1939) is an American zoologist and professor at the University of California, Berkeley, known for her research in the biology of caecilians (limbless amphibians) and vertebrate development and evolution. A 1988 Guggenheim Fellow, she has served as president of the American Institute of Biological Sciences, the American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists, Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology, International Union of Biological Sciences, and the International Society of Vertebrate Morphology. She is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the California Academy of Sciences, and is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Life Marvalee Hendricks was born in Orange, California on July 31, 1939. She attended the University of Southern California (USC), earning a B.A. 1961; M.S. in 1964; and completing her Ph.D. in 1968 under herpetologist Jay Savage. While at USC she met and married ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Paratype
In zoology and botany, a paratype is a specimen of an organism that helps define what the scientific name of a species and other taxon actually represents, but it is not the holotype (and in botany is also neither an isotype nor a syntype). Often there is more than one paratype. Paratypes are usually held in museum research collections. The exact meaning of the term ''paratype'' when it is used in zoology is not the same as the meaning when it is used in botany. In both cases however, this term is used in conjunction with ''holotype''. Zoology In zoological nomenclature, a paratype is officially defined as "Each specimen of a type series other than the holotype.", ''International Code of Zoological Nomenclature'' In turn, this definition relies on the definition of a "type series". A type series is the material (specimens of organisms) that was cited in the original publication of the new species or subspecies, and was not excluded from being type material by the author (th ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Taxa Named By Edward Harrison Taylor
In biology, a taxon (back-formation from ''taxonomy''; plural taxa) is a group of one or more populations of an organism or organisms seen by taxonomists to form a unit. Although neither is required, a taxon is usually known by a particular name and given a particular ranking, especially if and when it is accepted or becomes established. It is very common, however, for taxonomists to remain at odds over what belongs to a taxon and the criteria used for inclusion. If a taxon is given a formal scientific name, its use is then governed by one of the nomenclature codes specifying which scientific name is correct for a particular grouping. Initial attempts at classifying and ordering organisms (plants and animals) were set forth in Carl Linnaeus's system in '' Systema Naturae'', 10th edition (1758), as well as an unpublished work by Bernard and Antoine Laurent de Jussieu. The idea of a unit-based system of biological classification was first made widely available in 1805 in the i ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Endemic Fauna Of Ethiopia
Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsewhere. For example, the Cape sugarbird is found exclusively in southwestern South Africa and is therefore said to be ''endemic'' to that particular part of the world. An endemic species can be also be referred to as an ''endemism'' or in scientific literature as an ''endemite''. For example '' Cytisus aeolicus'' is an endemite of the Italian flora. '' Adzharia renschi'' was once believed to be an endemite of the Caucasus, but it was later discovered to be a non-indigenous species from South America belonging to a different genus. The extreme opposite of an endemic species is one with a cosmopolitan distribution, having a global or widespread range. A rare alternative term for a species that is endemic is "precinctive", which applies to s ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Amphibians Of Ethiopia
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 decline ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Monotypic Amphibian Genera
In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unispecific" or "monospecific" is sometimes preferred. In botanical nomenclature, a monotypic genus is a genus in the special case where a genus and a single species are simultaneously described. In contrast, an oligotypic taxon contains more than one but only a very few subordinate taxa. Examples Just as the term ''monotypic'' is used to describe a taxon including only one subdivision, the contained taxon can also be referred to as monotypic within the higher-level taxon, e.g. a genus monotypic within a family. Some examples of monotypic groups are: Plants * In the order Amborellales, there is only one family, Amborellaceae and there is only one genus, '' Amborella'', and in this genus there is only one species, namely ''Amborella trichopoda.' ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Kafa Biosphere Reserve
The Kafa Biosphere Reserve is located in the Kafa Zone of Ethiopia approximately 460 km southwest of Addis Ababa. The Bonga National Forest Priority Area partly forms the southern boundary of the Biosphere Reserve, whilst the eastern boundary follows the Adiyo Woreda with the Gojeb River and Gewata-Yeba (Boginda) National Forest Priority Area forming the northern boundary. It was declared in 2010 and has a surface area of 760,114.1 hectares. It has a population of 608 227 people. It is administered by Kafa Zone Administration, in association with Adiyo Woreda, Bita Woreda, Chena Woreda, Cheta Woreda, Decha Woreda, Gesha Woreda, Gewata Woreda, Gimbo Woreda, Sayilem Woreda, Telo Woreda, and Bonga Town Administration. Ecological characteristics The Kafa Biosphere Reserve is located in the Kafa Zone of Ethiopia approximately 460 km southwest of Addis Ababa. The Bonga National Forest Priority Area partly forms the southern boundary of the Biosphere Reserve, ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Above Sea Level
Height above mean sea level is a measure of the vertical distance (height, elevation or altitude) of a location in reference to a historic mean sea level taken as a vertical datum. In geodesy, it is formalized as ''orthometric heights''. The combination of unit of measurement and the physical quantity (height) is called "metres above mean sea level" in the metric system, while in United States customary and imperial units it would be called "feet above mean sea level". Mean sea levels are affected by climate change and other factors and change over time. For this and other reasons, recorded measurements of elevation above sea level at a reference time in history might differ from the actual elevation of a given location over sea level at a given moment. Uses Metres above sea level is the standard measurement of the elevation or altitude of: * Geographic locations such as towns, mountains and other landmarks. * The top of buildings and other structures. * Flying objects such ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Habitat
In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical manifestation of its ecological niche. Thus "habitat" is a species-specific term, fundamentally different from concepts such as environment or vegetation assemblages, for which the term "habitat-type" is more appropriate. The physical factors may include (for example): soil, moisture, range of temperature, and light intensity. Biotic factors will include the availability of food and the presence or absence of predators. Every species has particular habitat requirements, with habitat generalist species able to thrive in a wide array of environmental conditions while habitat specialist species requiring a very limited set of factors to survive. The habitat of a species is not necessarily found in a geographical area, it can be the interior ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |