Description
This is a relatively small (200-370 mm total length) caecilian, dark black-brown in coloration and slightly paler ventrally. Its body has the characteristic annuli; it does not have a tail. The head is small and rather pointed, with the eyes covered by skin. The mouth is subterminal. A chemosensory tentacle is apparent on each side of the head.

Distribution and Habitat

Country distribution from AmphibiaWeb's database: Seychelles

	View distribution map in BerkeleyMapper.
	View Bd and Bsal data (5 records).

This is a relatively abundant species, inhabiting all of the granitic islands in the Seychelles group. This species can be found in moist leaf litter and soil, under wood and rocks, in debris piles, and occasionally in streams.

Life History, Abundance, Activity, and Special Behaviors
Not much is known about the behavior and diet. They presumably eat earthworms and terrestrial arthropods. There have been reports of this species consuming frogs. In captivity, they are sit-and-wait predators with a strong bite.

This species is an egg-laying, direct-developing caecilian.

Relation to Humans
Its diet of arthropods helps to control pest populations and its burrowing aids in soil turning and aeration.

Comments
This species was featured in News of the Week 26 May 2025:

Many island archipelagos sit on shallow continental shelves, and during the Pleistocene, these islands were connected as global sea levels dropped following glaciation. The way these now extinct 'paleo-islands' influenced historic gene flow is relevant for interpreting contemporary patterns of genetic diversity in island species. Sherlock et al. (2025) studied Hypogeophis rostratus, a direct-developing caecilian amphibian found on 10 islands in the granitic Seychelles archipelago. Using fine-scale genomic data (ddRADseq), they found that genomic clusters often did not correspond to islands in the archipelago and that isolation-by-distance patterns were more consistent with gene flow across a continuous landscape than with isolated island populations. Based on several population genomic analyses, they found that present-day biogeographic patterns are likely related to signals from extinct Pleistocene landmasses. This suggests that the signatures of gene flow associated with paleo-islands may be stronger than the isolating effects of contemporary islands in terrestrial species distributed on continental shelf islands. (Written by Jeff Streicher)

References

Wake, M. H. (2003). ''Frigate Island caecilian, Hypogeophis rostratus.'' Grzimek's Animal Life Encyclopedia, Volume 6, Amphibians. 2nd edition. M. Hutchins, W. E. Duellman, and N. Schlager, eds., Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan.

Species Account Citation: AmphibiaWeb 2025 Hypogeophis rostratus: Frigate Island Caecilian <https://amphibiaweb.org/species/1901> University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA. Accessed Jun 14, 2025.

Citation: AmphibiaWeb. 2025. <https://amphibiaweb.org> University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA. Accessed 14 Jun 2025.

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