Herpelidae are a

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

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 ...

s, sometimes known as the African caecilians. They are found in

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 sov ...

. Like other

s, they superficially resemble worms or snakes. They are the

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 t ...

to the newly discovered

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, ''Fuller's caecilian, Chikila fulleri'' (formerly ''Herpele fulleri'') was first d ...

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 ''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, ter ...

'' 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-Saharan Africa Taxa named by Raymond Laurent