Caeciliidae is the

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

of common caecilians. They are found in Central and South America. Like other

caecilian Caecilians (; ) are a group of limbless, vermiform (worm-shaped) or serpentine (snake-shaped) amphibians with small or sometimes nonexistent eyes. They mostly live hidden in soil or in streambeds, and this cryptic lifestyle renders caecilians ...

s, they superficially resemble worms or snakes. Although they are the most diverse of the caecilian families, the caeciliids do have a number of features in common that distinguish them from other caecilians. In particular, their skulls have relatively few bones, with those that are present being fused to form a solid ram to aid in burrowing through the soil. The mouth is recessed beneath the snout, and there is no tail. Many caeciliids lay their eggs in moist soil. The eggs then hatch into aquatic larvae, which live in seepages in the soil, or in small streams. However, some species lack a larval stage, with the eggs hatching into juveniles with the same form as the adults, or else lack eggs and give birth to live young.

Phylogeny

Traditional taxonomy, which is reflected in the "Scientific Classification" box in this article, categorizes extant amphibia into three orders: ''Anura'' (frogs and toads), ''Caudata'' (newts and salamanders), and ''Gymnophiona'' (caecilians). However, there is considerable debate among paleontologists and molecular geneticists concerning the phylogenetic relationship between amphibians, and indeed whether ''Amphibia'' is a

monophyletic In biological cladistics for the classification of organisms, monophyly is the condition of a taxonomic grouping being a clade – that is, a grouping of organisms which meets these criteria: # the grouping contains its own most recent co ...

clade In biology, a clade (), also known as a Monophyly, monophyletic group or natural group, is a group of organisms that is composed of a common ancestor and all of its descendants. Clades are the fundamental unit of cladistics, a modern approach t ...

or a

polyphyletic A polyphyletic group is an assemblage that includes organisms with mixed evolutionary origin but does not include their most recent common ancestor. The term is often applied to groups that share similar features known as Homoplasy, homoplasies ...

collection of diverse evolutionary lineages. The more limited debate (operating on the assumption that ''Amphibia'' is a monophyletic clade) is whether ''Caudata'' is more closely related to ''Anura'' (in a shared clade called ''Batrachia'' — the traditional view) or to ''Gymnophiona'' (suggested by research in 2005). The broader debate is whether ''Amphibia'' is monophyletic or polyphyletic. The latter view considers ''Caudata'' and ''Gymnophiona'' to be more closely related to

amniote Amniotes are tetrapod vertebrate animals belonging to the clade Amniota, a large group that comprises the vast majority of living terrestrial animal, terrestrial and semiaquatic vertebrates. Amniotes evolution, evolved from amphibious Stem tet ...

s (reptiles, mammals and birds) than to ''Anura''.

Species

*Genus '' Caecilia'' – common caecilians **'' Caecilia abitaguae'' **'' Caecilia albiventris'' **'' Caecilia antioquiaensis'' **'' Caecilia aprix'' **'' Caecilia armata'' **'' Caecilia atelolepis'' **'' Caecilia attenuata'' **'' Caecilia bokermanni'' **'' Caecilia caribea'' **'' Caecilia corpulenta'' **'' Caecilia crassisquama'' **'' Caecilia degenerata'' **'' Caecilia disossea'' **'' Caecilia dunni'' **'' Caecilia epicrionopsoides'' **'' Caecilia flavopunctata'' **'' Caecilia goweri'' **'' Caecilia gracilis'' **'' Caecilia guntheri'' **'' Caecilia inca'' **'' Caecilia isthmica'' **'' Caecilia leucocephala'' **'' Caecilia macrodonta'' **'' Caecilia marcusi'' **'' Caecilia mertensi'' **'' Caecilia museugoeldi'' **'' Caecilia nigricans'' **'' Caecilia occidentalis'' **'' Caecilia orientalis'' **'' Caecilia pachynema'' **'' Caecilia perdita'' **'' Caecilia pressula'' **'' Caecilia pulchraserrana'' **'' Caecilia subdermalis'' **'' Caecilia subnigricans'' **'' Caecilia subterminalis'' **'' Caecilia tentaculata'' **'' Caecilia tenuissima'' **''

Caecilia thompsoni ''Caecilia thompsoni'', commonly called Thompson's caecilian, is a species of caecilian in the family Caeciliidae. It is Endemism, endemic to Colombia. It is the largest of the worm-like caecilians and reaches a length of 1.5 m (5 ft) a ...

'' **'' Caecilia volcani'' *Genus '' Oscaecilia'' – South American caecilians **'' Oscaecilia bassleri'' **'' Oscaecilia elongata'' **'' Oscaecilia equatorialis'' **'' Oscaecilia hypereumeces'' **'' Oscaecilia koepckeorum'' **'' Oscaecilia ochrocephala'' **'' Oscaecilia osae'' **'' Oscaecilia polyzona'' **'' Oscaecilia zweifeli''

Phylogeny

Species

References

Further reading