Herpelidae

Herpelidae
Female Herpele squalostoma with her young
Scientific classification
Kingdom:Animalia
Phylum:Chordata
Class:Amphibia
Clade:Gymnophiona
Family:Herpelidae
Laurent, 1984
Type genus
Herpele
Peters, 1875
Genera

Herpelidae are a family of caecilians, sometimes known as the African caecilians. They are found in Sub-Saharan Africa.[1][2][3] Like other caecilians, they superficially resemble worms or snakes.[3] They are the sister group to the newly discovered Chikilidae.[4]

Distribution

Herpelidae occur primarily in Central and East Africa, barely reaching West Africa (southeastern Nigeria), and northern parts of Southern Africa (Malawi, possibly Zambia).[1]

Genera

There are two genera with ten species in total:[1][2]

  • Boulengerula Tornier, 1896 – Boulenger's caecilians, Usambara bluish-gray caecilians (8 species)
  • Herpele Peters, 1880 – Congo caecilians (2 species)

References

  1. 1 2 3 Frost, Darrel R. (2018). "Herpelidae Laurent, 1984". Amphibian Species of the World: an Online Reference. Version 6.0. American Museum of Natural History. Retrieved 22 May 2018.
  2. 1 2 "Herpelidae". AmphibiaWeb. University of California, Berkeley. 2018. Retrieved 22 May 2018.
  3. 1 2 Vitt, Laurie J. & Caldwell, Janalee P. (2014). Herpetology: An Introductory Biology of Amphibians and Reptiles (4th ed.). Academic Press. pp. 451–452.
  4. ↑ Frost, Darrel R. (2018). "Chikilidae Kamei, San Mauro, Gower, Van Bocxlaer, Sherratt, Thomas, Babu, Bossuyt, Wilkinson, and Biju, 2012". Amphibian Species of the World: an Online Reference. Version 6.0. American Museum of Natural History. Retrieved 22 May 2018.
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