Wednesday, April 26, 2023

[Herpetology • 2023] Caecilia yaigoje • A New Caecilia (Gymnophiona: Caeciliidae) from the Colombian Amazon


Caecilia yaigoje 
 Fernández-Roldán; Medina-Rangel & Lynch, 2023

 
We here describe a new Caecilia from Parque Nacional Natural Yaigojé Apaporis, Taraira, Vaupés, Colombia, near the Brazilian border. Although this new species is only represented in collections by three specimens, it is recognizable from all other congeners by virtue of its head shape, its dentition, its counts of primary and secondary grooves, its oval dermal scales, and its small terminal shield. Although its phylogenetic relationships are unknown, it seems most similar to C. museugoeldi from French Guyana.

Holotype of Caecilia yaigoje (IAvH 5114).
 (A–B) General view of the body in dorsal and ventral view; scale bar equals 6 mm. (C, E, G) Head, collars, and first primary grooves in lateral, dorsal, and ventral view. (D, F, H) Terminus, last grooves, and vent in lateral, dorsal, and ventral view.
Scale bar equals 3.5 mm.

Caecilia yaigoje, new species 

Etymology.—This species is named after Parque Nacional Natural Yaigojé Apaporis, the first P.N.N. to be entirely designated as a protected area in response to the wishes and petitions of its native human inhabitants who believe in the conservation of the Amazon jungle and oppose any mining activities carried out in this region of Colombia. The specific epithet is used as a noun in apposition.


 Juan David Fernández-Roldán; Guido Fabian Medina-Rangel and John D. Lynch. 2023. A New Caecilia (Amphibia: Gymnophiona: Caeciliidae) from the Colombian Amazon. Ichthyology & Herpetology. 111(2); 241–247. DOI: 10.1643/h2021107