Gegeneophis Peters

Ravichandran, Masagoundanur S., Gower, David J. & Wilkinson, Mark, 2003, A new species of Gegeneophis Peters (Amphibia: Gymnophiona: Caeciliidae) from Maharashtra, India, Zootaxa 350, pp. 1-8 : 2

Gegeneophis Peters

Diagnosis: Caeciliids with eyes under bone; no temporal fossae; mesethmoid not exposed dorsally; splenial teeth present; tentacular opening midway between eye and external naris; small narial plugs present; no diastemata between vomerine and palatal teeth; terminal keel absent.

Type species: Gegeneophis carnosus ( Beddome 1870) by original monotypy.

Content: Five species: G. carnosus , G. f u l l e r i ( Alcock 1904), G. krishni Pillai and Ravichandran 1999 , G. ramaswamii Taylor 1964 , G. seshachari sp. nov.

Remarks: The presence of secondary annuli and scales, and the absence of a terminal shield were previously used in diagnoses of Gegeneophis ( Taylor 1968; Nussbaum and Wilkinson 1989) and, with the exception of the G. seshachari , are characteristic of all Indian caeciliids. Gegeneophis is diagnosed on the basis of a combination of features, none of which is a unique synapomorphy of the genus. Monophyly of Gegeneophis is thus uncertain and merits testing through phylogenetic analysis.