HUSBANDRY AND PROPAGATION The care and captive breeding of the caecilian Typhlonectes natans RICHARD PARKINSON Ecology UK, 317 Ormskirk Road, Upholland, Skelmersdale, Lancashire, UK E-mail:
[email protected] riAECILIANS (Apoda) are the often overlooked Many caecilians have no larval stage and, while third order of amphibians and are not thought some lay eggs, many including Typhlonectes natans to be closely-related to either Anurans or Urodelans. give birth to live young after a long pregnancy. Despite the existence of over 160 species occurring Unlike any other amphibian (or reptile) this is a true throughout the tropics (excluding Australasia and pregnancy in which the membranous gills of the Madagascar), relatively little is known about them. embryo functions like the placenta in mammals, so The earliest known fossil caecilian is Eocaecilia that the mother can supply the embryo with oxygen. micropodia, which is dated to the early Jurassic The embryo consumes nutrients secreted by the Period approximately 240 million years ago. uterine walls using specialized teeth for the Eocaecilia micropodia still possessed small but purpose. well developed legs like modem amphiumas and sirens. The worm-like appearance and generally Captive Care subterranean habits of caecilians has often led to In March 1995 I acquired ten specimens of the their dismissal as primitive and uninteresting. This aquatic caecilian Typhlonectes natans (identified by view-point is erroneous. Far from being primitive, cloacae denticulation after Wilkinson, 1996) which caecilians are highly adapted to their lifestyle. had been imported from Guyana. I immediately lost 7),phlonectes natans are minimalist organisms two as a result of an ill-fitting aquarium lid.