Aquatic Caecilians

Typhlonectidae, also known as aquatic caecilians or rubber eels, are a family of caecilians found east of the Andes in South America.^[1]

They are viviparous animals, giving birth to young that possess external gills. Of the five genera in the family, Atretochoana, Potamotyphlus and Typhlonectes are entirely aquatic, while Chthonerpeton and Nectocaecilia are semiaquatic.^[1] Atretochoana reaches 100 cm (39 in) in length, but other species in the family range from 20 to 60 cm (7.9–23.6 in).^[1]

Taxonomy

• Genus Atretochoana
  • Atretochoana eiselti
• Genus Chthonerpeton
  • Chthonerpeton arii
  • Chthonerpeton braestrupi
  • Chthonerpeton exile
  • Chthonerpeton indistinctum
  • Chthonerpeton noctinectes
  • Chthonerpeton onorei
  • Chthonerpeton perissodus
  • Chthonerpeton viviparum
• Genus Nectocaecilia
  • Nectocaecilia petersii
• Genus Potamotyphlus
  • Potamotyphlus kaupii
• Genus Typhlonectes
  • Typhlonectes compressicauda
  • Typhlonectes natans

References

• San Mauro, Diego; David J. Gower; Oommen V. Oommen; Mark Wilkinson; Rafael Zardoya (November 2004). "Phylogeny of caecilian amphibians (Gymnophiona) based on complete mitochondrial genomes and nuclear RAG1". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 33 (2): 413–427. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2004.05.014. PMID 15336675.
• San Mauro, Diego; Miguel Vences; Marina Alcobendas; Rafael Zardoya; Axel Meyer (May 2005). "Initial diversification of living amphibians predated the breakup of Pangaea" (PDF). American Naturalist. 165 (5): 590–599. doi:10.1086/429523. PMID 15795855.
• San Mauro, Diego; David J. Gower; Tim Massingham; Mark Wilkinson; Rafael Zardoya; James A. Cotton (August 2009). "Experimental design in caecilian systematics: phylogenetic information of mitochondrial genomes and nuclear rag1". Systematic Biology. 58 (4): 425–438. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.577.2856. doi:10.1093/sysbio/syp043. PMID 20525595.