page_title: Caecilian
section_title: Reproduction
hierarchical_section_title: Caecilian / Reproduction
caption_attribution_description: Caecilian
context_page_description: The Caecilians are an order of amphibians. Most of them look like either earthworms or snakes. They burrow in the ground. For this reason, they are the least explored order of amphibians.
context_section_description: Caecilians are the only order of amphibians which only use internal insemination. The male Caecilians have a penis-like organ, the phallodeum, which is inserted into the cloaca of the female for 2 to 3 hours. About 25% of the species are oviparous (egg-laying); the rest are ovoviviparous, with eggs hatching inside the mother. The eggs are guarded by the female. For some species the young caecilians are already metamorphosed when they hatch, other hatch as larvae. The larvae are not fully aquatic, but spend the daytime in the soil near the water.
  In ovoviviparous species the foetus is fed inside the female with special cells of the oviduct, which are eaten by the foetus with special scraping teeth. Some larvae, such as those of Typhlonectes, are born with enormous external gills which are shed almost immediately. The egg laying species Boulengerula taitanus feeds its young by developing a special outer layer of skin, which the young peel off with similar teeth. Ichthyophis is oviparous and is known to show maternal care.
caption: Maternal care in Ichthyophis
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