A new species of Caecilia (Gymnophiona, Caeciliidae) from the Magdalena valley region of Colombia

By

Acosta-Galvis, Andrés Rymel
Torres, Mauricio
Pulido Santacruz, Paola

Type

Article

Date of Publication

2019

Original Publication

ZooKeys

Volume

884

Pages

135--157

Subjects

Amphibia , Caecilia degenerata , Epicrionops , Microcaecilia , paraphyly , Phylogeny , Siphonopidae , South America , taxonomy , tropical humid forest

Contributed by

Pensoft Publishers

Language

English

Published by

Sofia, Bulgaria Pensoft Publishers

Identifiers

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.884.35776

 

Abstract

A new species of the genusCaecilia(Caeciliidae) from the western foothills of the Serranía de los Yariguíes in Colombia is described.Caecilia pulchraserranasp. nov.is similar toC. degenerataandC. corpulentabut differs from these species in having fewer primary annular grooves and a shorter body length. With this new species, the currently recognized species in the genus are increased to 35. Mitochondrial DNA sequences, including newly sequenced terminals representing two additional, previously unanalyzed species, corroborate the phylogenetic position of the new species withinCaeciliaand the monophyly of the genus. This analysis also included newly sequenced terminals of Epicrionops aff. parkeri (Rhinatrematidae) and trans-AndeanMicrocaecilia nicefori(Siphonopidae). Evidence was found for the non-monophyly of the family Siphonopidae and the siphonopid generaMicrocaeciliaandSiphonops. The implications of these results for caecilian systematics are discussed and the status of the trans-Andean populations ofCaecilia degeneratais commented upon.