''Oscaecilia'' is a genus 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 ...
s 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 ...
.
The genus is distributed in southeastern Central America
Central America ( es, América Central or ) is a subregion of the Americas. Its boundaries are defined as bordering the United States to the north, Colombia to the south, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. ...
(Costa Rica, Panama) and northern South America
South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...
, possibly extending into southern Brazil. They are sometimes known as the South American caecilians.[
]
Description
Adult ''Oscaecilia'' often exceed in total length. The diagnostic characters of ''Oscaecilia'' include eyes that are covered by bone, presence of splenial
The splenial is a small bone in the lower jaw of reptiles, amphibians and birds, usually located on the lingual side (closest to the tongue) between the angular and surangular
The suprangular or surangular is a jaw bone found in most land verteb ...
teeth, absence of true tail, and a tentacular opening that is directly below the nostril
A nostril (or naris , plural ''nares'' ) is either of the two orifices of the nose. They enable the entry and exit of air and other gasses through the nasal cavities. In birds and mammals, they contain branched bones or cartilages called turbi ...
, much closer to it than to the eye.
Species
There are nine recognized species:[
]
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q2698042
Amphibian genera
Amphibians of Central America
Amphibians of South America
Taxa named by Edward Harrison Taylor
Taxonomy articles created by Polbot