Abstract
A new species of Indian caeciliid caecilian, Indotyphlus maharashtraensis (Amphibia: Gymnophiona), is described based on a series of 12 specimens from the northern Western Ghats of the State of Maharashtra. This species differs from the only other species in the genus, I. battersbyi, in having fewer primary annuli, many more primary annuli bearing secondary annular grooves, and in the presence of a modified subterminal region that has a depressed preanal strip extending anteriorly from around the vent. A key to the species of Indotyphlus is provided.
Key words: caecilians, Gegeneophis, herpetology, Indotyphlus battersbyi, South Asia, systematics
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| FIGURE 2. Photographs of Indotyphlus maharashtraensis, showing whole adult (upper) and lateral view of head of same specimen (lower left) in life, and ventral view of terminus of paratopotype male BNHS 4223 in preservation (lower right). |
Diagnosis: An Indotyphlus differing from I. battersbyi in having secondary annular
grooves present anterior to the 100th primary annulus behind the nuchal collars, and in
having a depressed preanal strip (longer in adult males) anterior to the disc surrounding the vent.
Etymology: The species is named for Maharashtra, the Indian State within which the type locality lies.
V. Giri, D.J. Gower and M. Wilkinson. 2004. A New Species of Indotyphlus Taylor (Amphibia: Gymnophiona: Caeciliidae) from the Western Ghats, India. Zootaxa. 739: 1-19.
