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| This specimen is most likely Dunn's Caecilian, Dermophis parviceps Dunn, 1924, or something related to it. It was found in a wet Costa Rican forest. All New World known caecillids are live bearing and some species have larvae that feed on secretions of the oviduct after the yolk supply has been exhausted. After birth they feed on soil invertebrates. |
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The common caecilians are fossorial amphibians of Central and South America, they are also found in sub-Saharan Africa, and the Indian subcontinent. The family contains 24 genera and about 90 species. All of these tend to be found in humid tropical forests. They have a recessed mouth, a tentacle that is anterior to the eye, and they lack a true tail. Some species have live birth (viviparous) whereas others are egg layers (oviparous). The very odd tentacle organ of these unusual animals is used to collect chemicals from the environment, and they are then examined with the Jacobson's organ which then relays the information to the brain. The tentacle's function was not known until 1986, but prior to that date Edward Taylor (1968, The Caecilians of the World, A Taxonomic Review. University of Kansas Press) wrote the following hypothesis:
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