Herpelidae Laurent, 1984
Herpelinae Laurent, 1984, Acta Zool. Lilloana, 37: 199-200. Type genus: Herpele Peters, 1875.
Herpeloidi — Lescure, Renous, and Gasc, 1986, Mem. Soc. Zool. France, 43: 163. Supertribe.
Herpelini — Lescure, Renous, and Gasc, 1986, Mem. Soc. Zool. France, 43: 163. Tribe.
Herpeliti — Lescure, Renous, and Gasc, 1986, Mem. Soc. Zool. France, 43: 164. Subtribe.
Afrocaeciliiti Lescure, Renous, and Gasc, 1986, Mem. Soc. Zool. France, 43: 164. Type genus: Afrocaecilia Taylor, 1968. Coined as a subtribe. Synonymy by Wilkinson, San Mauro, Sherratt, and Gower, 2011, Zootaxa, 2874: 3.
Siphonopoidi — Lescure, Renous, and Gasc, 1986, Mem. Soc. Zool. France, 43: 164. Supertribe.
English Names
None noted.
Distribution
Southeastern Nigeria east to western Central African Republic and south to extreme western Dem. Rep. Congo, possibly into the adjacent Cabinda enclave of Angola; Tanzania, Kenya, Rwanda, and Malawi, to be expected in Uganda, Dem. Rep. Congo, Zambia, and Burundi..
Comment
Wilkinson, San Mauro, Sherratt, and Gower, 2011, Zootaxa, 2874: 41-64, redefined and redelimited the taxon to include only Boulengerula and Herpele, thereby rendering it monophyletic. Pyron and Wiens, 2011, Mol. Phylogenet. Evol., 61: 543-583 (see comment in Amphibia record) on the basis of molecular evidence confirmed the monophyly of the group and provided a tree that suggested that Herpelidae is the sister taxon of all caecilians with the exception of Scolecomorphidae, Ichthyophiidae, and Rhinatrematidae. Blackburn and Wake, 2011, In Zhang (ed.), Zootaxa, 3148, 3148: 39-55, briefly reviewed the taxonomic history of this taxon. San Mauro, Gower, Cotton, Zardoya, Wilkinson, and Massingham, 2012, Syst. Biol., 61: 661-674, confirmed this phylogenetic placement. Maddin, Russell, and Anderson, 2012, Zool. J. Linn. Soc., 166: 160-201, reported on the braincase of the family and confirmed the phylogenetic placement of the family.
Contained taxa
External Links
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