Gegeneophis primus Kotharambath, Gower, Oommen & Wilkinson, 2012, sp.nov.
Creators: name: Kotharambath, Ramachandran
name: Gower, David J.
name: Oommen, Oommen V.
name: Wilkinson, Mark
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2012
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Chordata
Amphibia
Gymnophiona
Caeciliidae
Gegeneophis
Gegeneophis primus

description: Gegeneophis primus sp.nov.
(Figs. 1–3; Table 1)
Gegeneophis carnosus (Beddome, 1870): Gower et al. (2011: 702, 705, fig. 2, tables 1, 2, 5 (in part))
Holotype. BNHS 5536, adult female, collected from Sugandhagiri Cardamom Estate, near Vythiri, Pozhuthana Gramapanchayath, Vythiri Taluk, Wayanad District, Kerala (N 11°33’ E 076°00’, 850 m a.s.l.) by R. Kotharambath on 21 August, 2011.
Paratopotypes (n = 7). BNHS 5537, 5538 collected by O. V. Oommen and R. Kotharambath on 0 8 October, 2010, BNHS 5539, 5540, ZSI/ WGRC /V/A/851, 852, 853 collected by R. Kotharambath on 21 August, 2011.
Diagnosis. A Gegeneophis differing from G. seshachari Ravichandran, Gower & Wilkinson, 2003 and G. pareshi Giri, Gower, Gaikwad & Wilkinson, 2011 in lacking an extensive terminal shield that includes (extends anterior to) the vent, and in having less than 120 primary annuli, and from all other nominal species of Gegeneophis in lacking scales and secondary annular grooves.
Description of holotype. Meristic and morphometric data in Table 1. Condition good; c. 5 mm and 7 mm long ventral incisions into coelom c. 47 mm and 62 mm anterior to terminus. Overall shape fairly cylindrical and uniform throughout, slightly dorsoventrally compressed. Head more V- than U-shaped in dorsal view, sides converge sharply with straight edges from NG1 to level of TAs, and more sharply in front of TAs to slightly blunt snout tip. In ventral view, lower jaw and margin of mouth on upper jaw more rounded than snout, visibility of upper jaws gradually increasing from CM to snout. In lateral view, margins of mouth slightly to down-curved anterior to CM.
Eyes not visible. TAs on pronounced TPs, subcircular, on lower edges of imaginary lines between nares and CMs; TAs visible in lateral and ventral (barely) views, only TPs visible in dorsal view. Nares somewhat oval, slightly smaller than TAs, barely visible in ventral and dorsal views, clearly visible laterally slightly closer to bottom, approximately equidistant from top and front of snout. In lateral view, CMs closer to bottom than top of head. Midventral crease extends from NG2 to near mouth.
Most teeth present. No diastemata between vomerine and palatine teeth. Choanae subcircular, separated by one and half times width of single choana. Tongue not covering IMs, unattached anteriorly; narial plugs visible, encircled by subcircular grooves.
Nuchal region more massive than head, scarcely more massive than adjacent annular region; C2 slightly less than one and half length of C1 (about length of one anterior annulus); NG1 faint, feebly complete midventrally, incomplete middorsally; NG2 conspicuous, complete ventrally and dorsally, slightly less conspicuous laterally; NG3 conspicuous dorsolaterally, inconspicuous and incomplete ventrally. Single distinct dorsal TG on C2. SAGs absent; PAGs well marked ventro- and dorsolaterally, faint but complete or nearly so midventrally, few middorsally complete preceding NG3, becoming narrowly incomplete until posterior fourth where complete or nearly so. Single row of enlarged granular glands posterior to narrow dark band of each AG. AGs most prominent just anterior to vent. Whitish granular glands denser and more conspicuous posteriorly. No scales or scale pockets. Two AGs interrupted by vent; no AGs behind vent. End of body bulges very slightly just anterior to vent, then tapers abruptly from level of AG at anterior edge of vent forming bluntly rounded tip (blunter than snout). Vent transverse, almost at terminus, slightly elevated; disc around vent small but distinct, notably glandular; six denticulations anterior, six posterior, those posterior longer. No terminal keel. No anal papillae.
In preservative, body grey, paler anteriorly, slightly darker posteriorly, darkest along last ten annuli, paler ventrally (paler than anterior dorsum) except at a few annuli anterior to vent. Mid-ventral bluish dark line extends from middle of NG3 to vent. Head paler than adjacent body, less pigmented ventrally than dorsally, whitish lip lines and broad paler spots surrounding TAs and nares. Snout tip and skin above m. depressor mandibulae (above and behind CMs) whitish. Tip of terminus not obviously pale. Disc around vent pale. AGs more or less conspicuous, slightly darker than body.
Variation and additional information from paratopotypes. Some meristic and morphometric data for the paratopotypes are given in Table 1. All paratopotypes are very similar to the holotype with little variation in head shape; eyes not visible, their presence under bone confirmed by dissection in BNHS 5538; nuchal region more massive in longer specimens, with similar pattern of grooves; L/W c. 28–37; L/H c. 27–32; bulging very slightly at posterior end, along last four or five annuli. As in holotype, SAGs, scales and scale pockets absent and posteriormost two AGs interrupted by vent, first one at the level of anterior end of disc, second (last small AG) at the level of vent. AGs a little more faintly marked in BNHS 5537 and BNHS 5538. Vent more or less transverse in all paratypes; disc around vent subcircular; denticulations lightly pigmented. Glands in skin on disc surrounding vent in all males and females, very obvious in some (e.g. BNHS 5537) less conspicuous in others (e.g.. BNHS 5539), very inconspicuous in ZSI/WGRC/V/A/853. No anal papillae.
Colour similar to that of holotype, except in BNHS 5537 and BNHS 5538 where slightly artefactually faded, lateral differentiation of dorsal and ventral shades not gradual, surface above m.depressor mandibulae and lateral aspects of collars very pale in all paratypes, head slightly darker in some. In all paratypes, posteriormost ten or so annuli distinctly and progressively darker than anterior; in ZSI/WGRC/V/A/853 dorsal surface of posterior end less darker than in other specimens. Small whitish irregular patches along posterior body half in BNHS 5537 (few) and ZSI/WGRC/V/A/851 (numerous). In BNHS 5540 a whitish spot at tip of posterior end. Midventral bluish line present in all paratypes, faint in BNHS 5537 and BNHS 5538.
Mouth examined in detail for paratypes with mouth preserved open (ZSI/WGRC/V/A/851, 852). All teeth except anterolateral dentary teeth strongly recurved. Anterolateral premaxillary-maxillary teeth longest, slightly shorter than corresponding three anterolateral dentary teeth, which are stoutest of all teeth. Teeth of inner rows much smaller than those of outer rows. Vomeropalatine teeth relatively uniform, one or two extend further posterior than last premaxillary-maxillary teeth on each side, posteriormost teeth slightly smaller. In all specimens number of premaxillary-maxillary very similar to number of vomeropalatine teeth. Anteriormost two dentary teeth small, almost vertical, next three much larger, moderately recurved, posteriormost three or four strongly recurved, gradually reducing in size, the last as small as IMs. IMs small, strongly recurved. Teeth of outer rows monocuspid, those of inner rows unclear. Tips of crowns of vomeropalatine teeth not visible in lateral view. Upper tooth rows extend to level of CM; last dentary at the level of the second or third premaxillary-maxillary tooth from the posterior end.
Tongue with free edge anterolaterally; colour varies considerably, very pale (e.g. BNHS 5537, 5538), pale pinkish (e.g. BNHS 5539, 5540, ZSI/WGRC/V/A/853) or dark pinkish (ZSI/WGRC/V/A/851), narial plugs elongate and surrounded (except posteriorly) by well-defined grooves. We suspect that the considerable variation in tongue colour is due to different amounts of blood present in the tongues of preserved specimens rather than to any differences in lingual pigmentation. Length of tongue anterior to narial plugs much less than behind and about half width of each plug. In ZSI/WGRC/V/A/852 narial plugs are very large and protruding, almost touching dentary teeth. Choanae generally separated by one and to one quarter or half width of each choana.
There is no evidence of sexual size dimorphism, though this might be re-evaluated when larger samples become available. Neither total length divided by head length (ST-NG1) nor head length divided by head width at CM differ notably between males and females (Table 1), and regressions of head length and of head width at CM on total length are not significantly different between the sexes (t-test, p = 0.855 and 0.825, respectively; analysis performed with SPSS software).
Colour in life. Observations were made of BNHS 5536 in anaesthesia before fixation. Head unpigmented, whitish anteriorly becoming pinkish towards collars. Body moderately and fairly uniformly pink, darkening to purple at posterior end, slightly paler grey on terminus. Body slightly darker above than below, more so posteriorly. Body surface spotted with glands throughout, AGs bordered with pale white colour (of granular glands), more conspicuous towards tail end. Disc around vent whitish. See Fig. 1.
Referred material. DU 1206, also from Sugandhagiri, was identified by Gower et al. (2011) as Gegeneophis carnosus, but examination of a photograph of this specimen indicates that it has approximately 111 primary annuli but no SAGs, and so is here re-identified as G. p r i m u s. It is considered referred rather than type material because we have no detailed data for it and have not compared it directly with the types.
Etymology. The specific epithet is in reference to the presence of only primary annuli and for nomenclatural purposes is considered to be a noun in apposition.
Suggested common name. Malabar Cardamom Geg (English). Historically, Malabar has been applied to various different but overlapping parts of southwest peninsular India but is currently used as a term for the northernmost six districts of Kerala state. The other part of the suggested common name refers to the discovery of this species in an estate that grows cardamom.
Distribution, natural history and conservation. The holotype and paratopotypes were collected during two consecutive monsoons from within a hilly, largely terraced cardamom/coffee estate that is contiguous with evergreen forests. Specimens were dug out (<30 cm deep) from moist soil along the often shrub-covered banks of a stream under dense canopy cover. This locality is part of the 868 hectares Sugandhagiri Cardamom Estate, a major portion of which was recently distributed to tribal families long associated with the estate maintenance. The region receives around 3,000 mm of annual rainfall (IMD Data, 2010). The wider distribution, natural history and habitat preferences/tolerances of this species remain to be determined. The population of G. p r i m u s at the type locality is likely not under immediate threat as long as the current habitat is maintained. Until additional data are generated we propose that the conservation status of this species should be Data Deficient (DD) under IUCN Red List criteria.
description: Published as part of Kotharambath, Ramachandran, Gower, David J., Oommen, Oommen V. & Wilkinson, Mark, 2012, A third species of Gegeneophis Peters (Amphibia: Gymnophiona: Indotyphlidae) lacking secondary annular grooves, pp. 26-34 in Zootaxa 3272 on pages 27-33, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.212101