A new species of Gegeneophis Peters (Amphibia: Gymnophiona: Caeciliidae) from the surroundings of Mookambika Wildlife Sanctuary, Karnataka, India

Abstract

A new species of Indian caecilian, Gegeneophis madhavai (Amphibia: Gymnophiona: Caeciliidae) is described from two specimens collected from the Western Ghats of southern Karnataka. This species is distinguished from all other species of the genus in having visible eyes, fewer than 100 primary annuli and more than 25 secondary annuli confined to the posterior of the body.

Remarkable genetic homogeneity in unstriped, long‐tailed Ichthyophis along 1500 km of the Western Ghats, India

“…The region is a recognized centre of diversity for the limbless, superficially snake‐like, caecilian amphibians (Gymnophiona: Taylor, 1961; Gower et al , 2004; Ravichandran, 2004). Recently, renewed interest in the systematics of Indian caecilians has led to the recognition of several new species from the Western Ghats (Pillai & Ravichandran, 1999; Giri, Wilkinson & Gower, 2003; Ravichandran, Gower & Wilkinson, 2003; Bhatta & Prasanth, 2004; Bhatta & Srinivasa, 2004; Giri, Gower & Wilkinson, 2004), in agreement with a theoretical prediction (Bhatta, 1997) and with recent progress in the systematics of anuran amphibians of the same region (Biju, 2001; see Gower et al , 2004). The recognition of new species of caecilians from the Western Ghats has been based on traditional taxonomic data, and the impact of molecular techniques has yet to be assessed (Gower et al , 2004).…”

“…Evidence for this includes the recognition of several new species of apparently largely allopatrically distributed caeciliids (e.g. Giri et al , 2003, 2004; Bhatta & Srinivasa, 2004) and multiple previously unrecognized genetic lineages of Western Ghats striped Ichthyophis (Gower et al , 2002) and Uraeotyphlus (Gower et al , 2001). In strong contrast, the results of this study demonstrate that Western Ghats long‐tailed, unstriped Ichthyophis probably constitute a single, widely distributed but extremely genetically homogeneous species.…”

Patterns of species discovery in the Western Ghats, a megadiversity hot spot in India

“…For example, it has been suggested that in the Western Ghats there may be more than 100 new species of frogs still awaiting scientifi c identity, mostly from the genus Philautus (Biju 2001), and fi ve new species of the legless amphibian (Giri et al 2003;Ravichandran et al 2003;Bhatta and Prashanth 2004;Bhatta and Srinivasa 2004;Giri et al 2004). More recently, a Gondwana land relic frog family, Nasikabatrachidae, was discovered from the Western Ghats (Biju and Bossuyt 2003;Dutta et al 2004).…”

Diversity and distribution of anurans in Phansad Wildlife Sanctuary (PWS), northern Western Ghats of India

“…Species discoveries like Gegeneophis nadkarnii (Bhatta & Prashanth, 2004), Indotyphlus maharashtraensis (Giri et al, 2004), Gegeneophis goaensis (Bhatta et al, 2007), Pseudophilautus amboli (Biju & Bossuyt, 2009) and Nyctibatrachus danieli (Biju et al, 2011) are significant findings from this region. Taxonomic as well as certain ecological studies by Daniel (1974), Yazdani & Mahabal (1976), Ravichandran & Pillai (1990), Daniels (1992), Ghate & Padhye (1996), Sekar (1999), , Dahanukar & Padhye (2005), Biju & Bossuyt (2009), Kumbar & Patil (2010) and Biju et al (2011) in Maharashtra region of northern Western Ghats are mostly confined to Bhimashankar, Mulshi region of Pune District, Satara, Sangli District and Amboli region of Sindhudurg District.…”