Rhinatrematidae is a family 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, also known as the Neotropical tailed caecilians, American tailed caecilians. or beaked caecilians. They are found in the equatorial countries of
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 ...
.
[
They are usually regarded as the most basal of the caecilian families, with numerous characteristics lacking in the other groups. For example, they still possess tails, and their mouths are not recessed on the underside of their heads. They lay their eggs in cavities in the soil. The larvae have external gills, and live in seepage areas until they metamorphose. The adults live in moist soil and leaf litter.]
Taxonomy
The 14 species in three genera are:[
* Genus '']Amazops
''Amazops'' is a monotypic genus of caecilian in the family Rhinatrematidae. It contains only one species, ''Amazops amazops''. It is endemic to Ecuador and is only known from a single specimen collected around 1990 from the Virgen La Dolores Far ...
''
** '' Amazops amazops'' (Ecuador)
* Genus '' Epicrionops''
** '' Epicrionops bicolor'' (Peru, Ecuador, Venezuela, and Colombia)
** '' Epicrionops columbianus'' (Colombia)
** '' Epicrionops lativittatus'' (Peru)
** '' Epicrionops marmoratus'' (Ecuador)
** '' Epicrionops parkeri'' (Colombia)
** '' Epicrionops peruvianus'' (Peru)
** '' Epicrionops petersi'' (Ecuador, Peru, and possibly Brazil and Colombia)
* Genus '' Rhinatrema''
**'' Rhinatrema bivittatum'' (Brazil, French Guiana, Guyana, and Suriname)
** '' Rhinatrema gilbertogili'' (Brazil)
**'' Rhinatrema nigrum'' ( Guyana, Venezuela, possibly Brazil)
**'' Rhinatrema ron'' (Brazil)
**'' Rhinatrema shiv'' (Guyana)Gower et al. (2010) "A new species of ''Rhinatrema'' Duméril & Bibron (Amphibia: Gymnophiona:Rhinatrematidae) from Guyana"
/ref>
**'' Rhinatrema uaiuai'' (Brazil)
References
Further reading
* Nussbaum, Ronald A. and Mark Wilkinson (1989). "On the Classification and Phylogeny of Caecilians." Herpetological Monographs, (3), 1-42
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{{Taxonbar, from=Q912940
Gymnophiona
Amphibian families
Taxa named by Ronald Archie Nussbaum