''Ichthyophis dulitensis'' is a species of

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 ...

in the family

Ichthyophiidae The Ichthyophiidae are the family of Asiatic tailed caecilians or fish caecilians found in South and Southeast Asia as well as southernmost China. They are primitive caecilians, lacking many of the derived characters found in the other families ...

. It is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

Borneo Borneo () is the List of islands by area, third-largest island in the world, with an area of , and population of 23,053,723 (2020 national censuses). Situated at the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, it is one of the Greater Sunda ...

and only known from near its type locality, Mount Dulit in northern

Sarawak Sarawak ( , ) is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia. It is the largest among the 13 states, with an area almost equal to that of Peninsular Malaysia. Sarawak is located in East Malaysia in northwest Borneo, and is ...

Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

, after which it is named. Described by

Edward Harrison Taylor Edward Harrison Taylor (April 23, 1889 – June 16, 1978) was an American herpetologist from Missouri. Early life Taylor was born in Maysville, Missouri, to George and Loretta Taylor. He had an older brother, Eugene. Taylor studied at the Uni ...

in 1960, the

holotype A holotype (Latin: ''holotypus'') is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of s ...

was collected by Charles Hose already in 1891. It is a poorly known species with uncertain taxonomic status. Common name Mount Dulit caecilian has been coined for it.

Description

''Ichthyophis dulitensis'' is a moderately slender caecilian. The

measures in snout–vent length and about in average body width. The head is long. The eyes are small with white pupils and black iris. Tail is short, . The skin has about 313 ring-shaped folds (annuli). The throat has a creamy spot.

Habitat and conservation

The

was collected from Mount Dulit at

above sea level Height above mean sea level is a measure of a location's vertical distance (height, elevation or altitude) in reference to a vertical datum based on a historic mean sea level. In geodesy, it is formalized as orthometric height. The zero level ...

. It presumably inhabits tropical moist forest. Adults are likely subterranean. The threats to this species are unknown.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1934687 dulitensis Endemic fauna of Borneo Endemic fauna of Malaysia Amphibians of Malaysia Amphibians described in 1960 Taxa named by Edward Harrison Taylor Taxonomy articles created by Polbot Amphibians of Borneo