Chromatic and morphological anomalies in gymnophionans from India

By

Venu, Govindappa
Venkatachalaiah, Govindaiah
Seetharama, Halemane Ganesharao
Balakrishna, Gandlahalli Narasimaiah
Lalremsanga, Hmar Tlawmte
Browne, Robert Kenneth
Nijagunaiah, Rajashekharaiah
Raju, Narayanappa Govinda
Varadh, Kulkarni
Ramakrishna, Sompalem
Henle, Klaus

Type

Article

Date of Publication

2022-6-22

Original Publication

Herpetozoa

Volume

35

Pages

121--132

Subjects

Agrochemicals , caecilian , coffee estate , hotspot , Pesticides , tea estate , Western Ghats

Contributed by

Pensoft Publishers

Language

English

Published by

Sofia, Bulgaria Pensoft Publishers

Identifiers

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3897/herpetozoa.35.e76397

 

Abstract

Caecilians (Gymnophiona) are commonly known as limbless amphibians and are the least understood vertebrate order. In this paper, we documented skin color, eye, jaw, snout, tentacular aperture and cloacal anomalies in 12 individuals of four species belonging to the three caecilian genera Ichthyophis, Uraeotyphlus and Gegeneophis collected from hotspots of caecilian diversity in India, the Western Ghats and Northeast India. As we found the majority of these individuals in coffee and tea plantations, we discuss the possibility that anomalies are the result of exposure to agrochemicals that are frequently used in plantations.