''Caecilia mertensi'' is a species of

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 o ...

in the family

Caeciliidae Caeciliidae is the family of common caecilians. They are found in Central and South America. Like other caecilians, they superficially resemble worms or snakes. Although they are the most diverse of the caecilian families, the caeciliids do ha ...

from South America. The type locality is imprecise: the

holotype A holotype is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism, known to have been used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of sever ...

was purportedly collected in "Seychelle Isle", but most likely originates from South America. However, more recently, several specimens have been collected from Mato Grosso, Brazil. The specific name ''mertensi'' honors Robert Mertens, a German zoologist and herpetologist. Common name Mertens' caecilian has been coined for this species.

Description

The holotype is unsexed and measures in total length. The body is wide. The head is slightly tapering, and the snout is projecting. The eyes are very small but visible externally. There are 142 mostly incomplete primary folds and 48 secondary folds. The body is partly covered by scales. Coloration is light brown, turning into grayish brown laterally. The head is grayish.

Habitat and conservation

There is no habitat data for the type series. The Mato Grosso records are from the Amazon biome or from its transition zone with the

Cerrado The ''Cerrado'' (, ) is a vast ecoregion of tropical savanna in eastern Brazil, particularly in the states of Goiás, Mato Grosso do Sul, Mato Grosso, Tocantins, Minas Gerais, and the Federal District. The core areas of the Cerrado biome are the ...

. Most of the records are from areas affected by hydropower development. In 2004 it was assessed as " data deficient" for the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q2236476 mertensi Amphibians of Brazil Taxa named by Edward Harrison Taylor Amphibians described in 1973 Taxonomy articles created by Polbot