''Uraeotyphlus gansi'', the Gansi caecilian, is a rare

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

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 ...

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

to the Western Ghats of

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. It was discovered in the Kaakkaachi-Naalumukku area of the

Kalakkad Mundanthurai Tiger Reserve Kalakkad Mundanthurai Tiger Reserve (KMTR) located in the South Western Ghats montane rain forests in Tirunelveli district and Kanyakumari district in the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu, is the second-largest protected area in Tamil Nadu. I ...

. ''U. gansi'' was named after

Carl Gans Carl Gans (7 September 1923 – 30 November 2009) was a German-born American zoologist and herpetologist. Early life and education Gans, who was Jewish, was born in Germany. While a teenager in 1939, he was able to escape Nazi Germany by ...

(1923–2009), a renowned

herpetologist Herpetology (from Greek ἑρπετόν ''herpetón'', meaning "reptile" or "creeping animal") is the branch of zoology concerned with the study of amphibians (including frogs, toads, salamanders, newts, and caecilians ( gymnophiona)) and rep ...

from

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

. According to Albert Rajendran, Research Department of

Zoology Zoology ()The pronunciation of zoology as is usually regarded as nonstandard, though it is not uncommon. is the branch of biology that studies the Animal, animal kingdom, including the anatomy, structure, embryology, evolution, Biological clas ...

, St. John's College, Palayamkottai, Rajendran spotted the species, along with his collaborator

David J. Gower David J. Gower is a palaeontologist. Before making his debut for the Strongroom CC in 2000, he was a herpetology researcher at the Museum of Natural History in London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, ...

of the

Natural History Museum A natural history museum or museum of natural history is a scientific institution with natural history collections that include current and historical records of animals, plants, fungi, ecosystems, geology, paleontology, climatology, and more. ...

, London, and two other experts in caecilians. He came across this limbless amphibian in the Kaakkaachi-Naalumukku areas during his study of the burrowing uropeltid (shield-tailed) snakes of the Western Ghats.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q3552119

gansi Gansi is the second single from Edo Maajka's fourth studio album "Balkansko a naše". About Gansi, the name itself is a reference to the American rock group Guns N' Roses and, is an ironic way in remembering Zagreb in the early 90s around the i ...

Taxa named by David J. Gower Amphibians described in 2008 Amphibians of India Endemic fauna of the Western Ghats