AmphibiaWeb
is an online system that provides access to information on amphibian
declines, conservation, natural history, and taxonomy.
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Species of the Week:
Atretochoana eiselti
Amphibian News
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One of the most enigmatic amphibians is the lungless caecilian Atretochoana eiselti. The species was described by Edward Taylor in 1968, based on an old specimen in the Vienna Museum, said to be from South America. Wilkinson and Nussbaum (1997) studied the type in great detail and described its lunglessness and associated features. Authors conjectured that the species must be aquatic; the only other known lungless caecilian is the tiny terrestrial Caecilita iwokramae. Now, Hoogmoed et al. (2011-PDF) report rediscovery of the species in Brazil, from Baía de Marajó, a tidal zone near Belém, but also from the geographically remote (2000 km) upper reaches of the Madeira River in Rondônia. The largest specimen is a meter long. How the species survives in such varied environments and how respiration takes place remain to be discovered.
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