''Ichthyophis beddomei'' 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 of ...

in the family

Ichthyophiidae The Ichthyophiidae are the family of Asiatic tailed caecilians or fish caecilians found in South and Southeast Asia as well as southernmost China. They are primitive caecilians, lacking many of the derived characters found in the other families ...

. This species is distributed widely in the Western Ghats in southern India. The nominal species might be a composite of several cryptic species. It is also known as the yellow-striped caecilian, Beddome's caecilian, or Nilgherries caecilian.

Description

Adults measure in total length, including the long tail. The body is dark violet-brown, becoming light brown ventrally. A yellow lateral stripe runs from the head to the tail tip. The stripe becomes slightly wider at the neck. The upper lip and lower jaw are also yellow in colour. The eyes are distinct. The tentacles are placed very close to the lip and almost equidistant from the eyes and nostrils. The nostrils at the tip of the snout are visible from above. The upper jaw slightly overhangs the lower jaw.

Habitat and conservation

''Ichthyophis beddomei'' is a subterranean species associated with leaf-litter, humus, and soil substrates. It lives in wet evergreen tropical forest but can also occur in low-intensity agricultural areas and in plantations. It occurs at elevations up to

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 comb ...

. It is an adaptable species that can be locally abundant, but severe habitat destruction remains a potential threat. It probably occurs in several protected areas.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q426163 beddomei Amphibians of India Endemic fauna of the Western Ghats Amphibians described in 1880 Taxa named by Wilhelm Peters