New
site records of Gegeneophis goaensis and G. mhadeiensis (Gymnophiona: Caeciliidae) from the Western Ghats of Goa and Karnataka
Gopalakrishna Bhatta 1,
K.P. Dinesh 2, P. Prashanth3, Nirmal U. Kulkarni4 & C. Radhakrishnan 5
1 Department of Biology, BASE
Educational Service Pvt. Ltd., Basavanagudi, Bengaluru, Karnataka 560004, India
2,5 Zoological Survey of India,
Western Ghat Regional Centre, Eranhipalam,
Kozhikode, Kerala 673006, India
3 Agumbe Rainforest Research Station, Agumbe, Karnataka 577411, India
4 Hiru NaikBuilding, Dhuler Mapusa,
Goa 403507, India
Email: 2 dineshcafe@gmail.com
(corresponding author)
Date of publication (online): 26 July 2010
Date of publication (print): 26 July 2010
ISSN 0974-7907 (online) | 0974-7893 (print)
Editor: Sanjay Molur
Manuscript details:
Ms # o2364
Received 10 December 2009
Final received 09 April 2009
Finally accepted 30 June 2010
Citation: Bhatta, G., K.P. Dinesh, P. Prashanth, N.U. Kulkarni & C.Radhakrishnan (2010). New site records of Gegeneophis goaensisand G. mhadeiensis (Gymnophiona: Caeciliidae) from the Western Ghats of Goa and Karnataka. Journal of Threatened Taxa 2(8): 1105-1108.
Copyright: © Gopalakrishna Bhatta, K.P. Dinesh, P. Prashanth, Nirmal U. Kulkarni & C. Radhakrishnan 2010. Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. JoTT allows
unrestricted use of this article in any medium for non-profit purposes,
reproduction and distribution by providing adequate credit to the authors and
the source of publication.
Acknowledgements: GB
is thankful to the Department of Science and Technology, Govt. of India and
Director, BASE, Bangalore for encouraging research on caecilians of Western
Ghats. DKP and CR are grateful to Dr. Ramakrishna, Director, Zoological Survey
of India, Kolkata for facilities. PP thanks the
Director, ARRS, Agumbe for
encouragement. We thank Luma Gaonkarof Chorla Village and Namdev Gaonkar of Surla Village
for their field support.
For figure, Images & table
– click here
In India the order Gymnophiona Müller is represented
by 26 species under four genera in two families (Dinesh et al. 2009). The genus Gegeneophis Peters is endemic to India with 10 species, one endemic
to northeastern India and the remaining nine restricted to the Western Ghats
(Fig. 1). During the past six years
seven new species were discovered in the northern and central parts of the
Western Ghats (between 17001’N-12059’N)
(Pillai & Ravichandran1999; Giri et al. 2003; Ravichandran et
al. 2003; Bhatta & Prashanth2004; Bhatta & Srinivasa2004; Bhatta et al. 2007a & Bhattaet al. 2007b). This upsurge in the
description of new species in Gegeneophis may be due to optimization of
surveying techniques, and recent predictions (Dineshet al. 2009) indicate future discovery of new species from this genus.
Gegeneophis goaensis was described by Bhatta et al. (2007a) from Keri Village, Sattari Taluk, North Goa
District, Goa based on a set of three specimens collected in September 2006 and
July 2008. G. mhadeiensis was described in 2007 from Chorla Village, Khanapur Taluk, Belgaum District, Karnataka from a set of three
specimens collected during 2006 (Bhatta et al.
2007b). During our recent explorations
for these secretive animals in the bordering districts of Maharashtra (Sindhudurg), Goa (North Goa) and Karnataka (Belgaum), we
collected an individual of G. goaensis (Image 1) below the soil heap
surrounding a banana plantation in Chorla Village
(Karnataka) on 05 August 2009 (Table 1). All the morphological and morphometric details
were in agreement with the description of Bhatta et
al. (2007a). Morphometricand meristic variations noted in the vouchered specimen deposited at the Zoological Survey of
India (ZSI), Kozhikode, Kerala (ZSI/WGRC/V/A/714) are
presented in Table 3. The specimen has
121 primary annuli; secondary annuli making their appearance at the 76thprimary annulus and the total number of secondary annuli accounting to 46. The other congenericspecies found sympatric is G. mhadeiensis. Earlier Bhatta et al. (2007a) reported G. goaensis from Keri Village (Goa) at an
altitude of 21m and the present report from ChorlaVillage (Karnataka) is a new site record from a much higher altitude of
780m. The present site record extends
the distribution range further north by 20km from the type locality. The specimen collected is deposited at the
national depository of ZSI, Kozhikode.
Between 5-7
August 2009, we collected five individuals of Gegeneophis resembling each other from three
different localities of the above mentioned districts (Table 2). They were collected in homestead areas,
alongside the man-made cow dung manure pits, under waste straw heaps and at the base of banana plantations. Laboratory studies confirmed the identity of these
five individuals as G. mhadeiensis (Image 2). Field identification of these individuals was
relatively difficult because of their superficial external resemblance with thecongeneric species G. carnosus, G. krishni and young ones of G. nadkarnii. Morphometric and meristicvariations noted in the vouchered specimens
(ZSI/WGRC/V/A/715; 713a & 713b; 716a & 716b) are presented in the Table
3. In the studied specimens, primary
annuli ranged from 118 to 125; secondary annuli made their appearance in the
range of 87th to 98th primary annuli and the total number
of secondary annuli were in the range of 24 to 32. The two individuals collected from Maan (Karnataka) were robust when compared to other
individuals from Chorla (Karnataka) and Surla (Goa). During
our surveys in these localities, the very common sympatric species of
caecilian, G. nadkarnii was sighted.
On 08 August 2009 at Keri Village
(Goa), we found a good population of G. goaensis within a 2-km radius of the type
locality. No individuals were collected
from this site. Here, Ichthyophis bombayensis was found to be sympatric with G. goaensis.
Although caecilians are often
considered rare and thought to require pristine habitat (Gower & Wilkinson
2005), our present study reveals that systematic search in a suitable habitat
with decomposing organic matter can yield good caecilian collections and also
in synanthropic environments. In India, systematic caecilian studies are
recent, with most earlier museum collections being opportunistic. It is considered that most of the new species
described since 1999 are documented from a few individuals. In this context,
our endeavours in the past (Bhattaet al. 2007c) and the present collections not only yield a good number of
specimens, but also provide ample
insights into the consistency in adoption of annuli count as a key character in
caecilian (Gegeneophis) taxonomy.
Distribution and taxonomic data of
caecilians are felt to be inadequate since most are poorly known. Our studies reveal sympatric associations
between G. nadkarnii, G. goaensis, G. mhadeiensis and I. bombayensis. Among the seven new species described in the past six years, we have
natural history only for G. seshachari Ravichandranet al., 2003 (Gower et al. 2008). Since G. nadkarnii Bhatta& Prashanth, 2004, G. goaensis and G. mhadeiensis are now known from different
localities our data is expected to promote further studies on the natural history
of caecilians.
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