Boulengerula Tornier, 1896
Boulengerula Tornier, 1896, in Möbius (ed.), Deutsch Ost-Afr., 3: 164. Type species: Boulengerula boulengeri Tornier, 1896, by monotypy.
Afrocaecilia Taylor, 1968, Caecilians of the World: 321. Type species: Boulengerula taitanus Loveridge, 1935, by original designation. Synonymy by Nussbaum and Hinkel, 1994, Copeia, 1994: 754.
English Names
Boulenger's Caecilians (Boulengerula: Frank and Ramus, 1995, Compl. Guide Scient. Common Names Amph. Rept. World: 23).
Usambara Bluish-gray Caecilians (Boulengerula: Ananjeva, Borkin, Darevsky, and Orlov, 1988, Dict. Amph. Rept. Five Languages: 12).
African Caecilians (Afrocaecilia [no longer recognized]: Frank and Ramus, 1995, Compl. Guide Scient. Common Names Amph. Rept. World: 23).
Distribution
Tanzania, Kenya, Rwanda, and Malawi, to be expected in Uganda, Dem. Rep. Congo, Zambia, and Burundi.
Comment
See Nussbaum and Hinkel, 1994, Copeia, 1994: 750-760, for revision and accounts. See comment under Herpele. Wilkinson, Loader, Müller, and Gower, 2004, Mitt. Mus. Naturkd. Berlin, Zool., 80: 41-51, discussed the phylogenetics within Boulengerula, suggested that the synonymy of Afrocaecilia with Boulengerula was premature, and provided a key to the species. Channing and Howell, 2006, Amph. E. Afr.: 345-346, provided an account for an undescribed species (Milky Caecilian) from the West Usambara and Nguru mountains of Tanzania. Wilkinson and Nussbaum, 2006, In Exbrayat (ed.), Reprod. Biol. Phylog. Gymnophiona: 39-78 [59], diagnosed the taxon and suggested that the taxon is monophyletic. Menegon, Doggart, and Owen, 2008, Acta Herpetol., Firenze, 3: 107-127, reported an undescribed species from the Nguru Mountains of eastern Tanzania. Gower, Papadopoulou, Doherty-Bone, Pupin, San Mauro, Loader, and Wilkinson, 2011, Zootaxa, 2767:14-24, discussed the molecular systematics of this taxon as well as its relationship to Afrocaecilia. Loader, Wilkinson, Cotton, Measey, Menegon, Howell, Müller, and Gower, 2011, Herpetol. J., 21: 5-16, reported on molecular systematics of the species.
Contained taxa
- Boulengerula boulengeri Tornier, 1896
- Boulengerula changamwensis Loveridge, 1932
- Boulengerula denhardti Nieden, 1912
- Boulengerula fischeri Nussbaum and Hinkel, 1994
- Boulengerula niedeni Müller, Measey, Loader, and Malonza, 2005
- Boulengerula taitana Loveridge, 1935
- Boulengerula uluguruensis Barbour and Loveridge, 1928
External Links
Please note: these links will take you to external websites not affiliated with the American Museum of Natural History. We are not responsible for their content.
- For additional sources of information from other sites search Google
- For images search Arkive, CalPhoto Images and Google Images
- To search the NIH genetic sequence database, see GenBank
