🚨NEW PAPER 🚨 Coupling molecular evolution with macroevolutionary transitions in a pheromone system including the three amphibian orders
Providing much needed research on #caecilians
in Journal of Evolutionary Biology @jevbio.bsky.social
doi.org/10.1093/jeb/...
Angled-down side image of a serpentine-like caecilian, resting on the bottom of an acrylic photo tank. The head, neck, and tail are visible, with much of the body being off camera to the right. The head points directly at the camera. The overall body color is a light gray. The caecilian shows many loose wrinkles wherever the body bends - the effect from having a loose, oversized skin over the body. The body is coated with a slimy substance that makes the caecilian very slippery and difficult to grab, either by humans or predators. The eyes are tiny dark spots rimmed in pale blue - very primitive organs that can't do much more than detect light and shadow. The tail is tall, flat, and laterally compressed - a paddle tail, perfect for aquatic propulsion.
On jury duty this week but I wasn't needed today - feels like a grade school snow day! Here's a seldom-seen critter that turned up in a fish trap set in flooded rainforest in Peru - an aquatic caecilian (Typhlonectes compressicauda). More deets in the ALT. #herps #caecilians #NaturePhotography 🌿
Does anyone have institutional access to this paper? Our students are very interested in learning more #amphibians #Caecilians www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Typhlonectes Natans
(@zslofficial.bsky.social, London November 2025)
#photography #animalphotgraphy #zoophotography #aquariumphotography #zoo #animals #aquaticamphibians #amphibians #caecilians #herpetology #herping #TyphlonectesNatans #ZSL #LondonZoo #London
Model caecilian.
Model caecilian.
Model caecilian.
Hey look, I got me a caecilian! I think it's a bootleg and don't know what original it's based on. But still cool to have it. #caecilians
🚨NEW PAPER 🚨 #Caecilians maintain a functional long-wavelength-sensitive cone opsin gene despite signatures of relaxed selection and more than 200 million years of fossoriality, published in Evolution @sse-evolution.bsky.social
academic.oup.com/evolut/artic...
🚨NEW PAPER 🚨 CaecilianTraits, an individual level trait database of #Caecilians worldwide, published in Scientific Data
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
🚨NEW PAPER 🚨 An overview of the postcranial osteology of #caecilians (Gymnophiona, Lissamphibia), published in The Anatomical Record @anatrecord.bsky.social
anatomypubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
🚨NEW PAPER 🚨 #Caecilians (Amphibia: Gymnophiona) as prey: a global synthesis, published in Journal of Natural History
(Image by Henrik Bringsøe and Niels Poul Dreyer, of two coral snakes feeding on a caecilian) www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1...
Angled down image of a worm-like caecilian moving through a thin sheet of water over rock and pebbles. The caecilian is a dark gray from nose to tail, and there are narrow but bright yellow stripes on either side of the body
Here's a Nakon Si Thammarat Caecilian (Ichthyophis supachaii), observed in a shallow rivulet near a forest trail in peninsular Thailand, 2023. Caecilians are amphibians, & generally live underground, although there are some completely aquatic species. #herps #caecilians #NaturePhotography 🌿
A quick Tetrapod Zoology introduction to #caecilians .... tetzoo.com/blog/2022/10... #amphibians #herpetology
#Caecilians are limbless, worm-like #amphibians that live underground 🌍🐍.
They have smooth, slippery skin and are rarely seen due to their burrowing lifestyle.
Despite their snake-like appearance, they're not reptiles.
Caecilians are fascinating, with some species even blind.
#Nature #Wildlife
Learn about upcoming SAVE THE FROGS! Events at savethefrogs.com/events
#savethefrogs #amphibian #biology #frogs #toads #salamanders #caecilians #newts #ecologists
Frog workshop
The first day of the joint IUCN Red List and Green Status of Species workshop (the first time they have ever run concurrently) was a great success, focussing on the #frogs of the Seychelles. On to the #caecilians tomorrow
Ellen Sharkey
Ellen Sharkey being interviewed for SBC
Ellen did a fantastic talk about her PhD topic looking at climate change in #caecilians.
The Seychelles Broadcasting Corporation were here, who will be doing a segment about the symposium, and Ellen and I gave an interview about the importance of getting people together for these events.
New book: “Atlas des Amphibiens de Guyane”, by Antoine Fouquet, Elodie Courtois, Maël Dewynter. A milestone in Guianan herpetology. Right now in French, and soon an English edition should be available:
crbe.cnrs.fr/en/parution-...
🐸🐸🐸
#herpetology #frogs #caecilians
The project will be documenting all fauna but it was partially developed to understand more about #caecilians.
You will also spend some time in Seychelles and likely with us at Newcastle University.
P.s. caecilians are awesome and the Seychelles is pretty nice ...
2 new species of #Caecilians discovered!
➡️Large worm🪱-like subterranean amphibians🐸.
🇪🇨#Chocó rainforest
reassembly.de/news/two-new-w
#caecilians at the @WCHerp 10th World Congress of #Herpetology #WCH24
@BellaLGonzalez presenting on “Welcome to Miami: Reproductive Traits and Pathogen Potential in Introduced Caecilians”
#caecilians at the @WCHerp 10th World Congress of #Herpetology #WCH24
Ranjith Vengot presenting on “Patterns of elevational variation in the distribution of caecilians: A study from a northern Kerala part of the Western Ghats of peninsular”, supervised by @RamKotharambath
#caecilians at the @WCHerp 10th World Congress of #Herpetology #WCH24
Avanthika Prakash presents her poster on “Surface activity and circadian rhythm in caecilians (Amphibia: Gymnophiona): new experimental data on animals in captivity” supervised by @RamKotharambath
#caecilians at the @WCHerp 10th World Congress of #Herpetology #WCH24
@RamKotharambath presents
“New insights into the natural history of Western Ghats caecilians”
#caecilians at the @WCHerp 10th World Congress of #Herpetology #WCH24
@QuentinWildlife Quentin Martinez gives us a “Preliminary investigation of the brain and olfactory apparatus of caecilians”
#caecilians at the @WCHerp 10th World Congress of #Herpetology #WCH24
Sina Amini presenting on “Unexpected maintenance of the long-wavelength sensitive (LWS) cone opsin in
caecilians”
#caecilians at the @WCHerp 10th World Congress of #Herpetology #WCH24
Mark Wilkinson @Atretochoana asking “Are cardiovascular and pulmonary systems of caecilians impacted by burrowing?”
A topic he’s wanted to look at since his early PhD days…
#caecilians at the @WCHerp 10th World Congress of #Herpetology #WCH24
@chungkamei presenting “A taxonomic review of the unstriped forms of the Asian caecilian genus Ichthyophis”
#caecilians at the @WCHerp 10th World Congress of #Herpetology #WCH24
Pedro Mailho-Fontana talking on
“Milk provisioning in oviparous caecilian amphibians”
The only tool you need to find #caecilians - the bladed hoe!
#caecilians at the @WCHerp 10th World Congress of #Herpetology #WCH24
Symposium organised by @axkupfer @QuentinWildlife @DrClaudiaKoch on “A brief introduction to the diversity of
subterranean amphibians and reptiles” with lots of talks on caecilians all morning!
#caecilians at the @WCHerp 10th World Congress of #Herpetology #WCH24
Mark Wilkinson @Atretochoana
presenting “Systematics of caecilians of the Seychelles”
Arguably the most well studied caecilians in the world: “Remarkable diversity in a tiny area”
