881.1 AMPHIBIA: GYMNOPHIONA: CAECILIIDAE Oscaecilia ochrocephala
Catalogue of American Amphibians and Reptiles.
Nieto-Román, S. and M.H. Wake. 2012. Oscaecilia ochrocephala .
Oscaecilia ochrocephala (Cope) Yellow -headed Caecilian
Caecilia ochrocephala Cope 1866:132. Type-locality “Panama”, restricted to the “Atlantic side of the Isthmus of Panama (Darien)” by Taylor (1968). Holotype (Cochran 1961; see Remarks ), National Museum of Natural History (USNM) 29764, young Oscaecilia ochrocephala , Círculo Herpetológico FIGURE 1. female, collected by J. Gallaer and J.L. LeConte de Panamá, 8 March 2006, at Gamboa, Provincia de Colón, sometime during 1849 (examined by MHW). Panamá. Photograph by C.A. Jaramillo. Caecilia gracilis : Garman 1876:412. Herpele ochrocephala : Cope 1885:171. Coecilia sabogae Barbour 1906:228. Type-locality “Saboga Id., Bay of Panama, [Panama]”. Syn- types, Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University (MCZ) 2425, 2 specimens, age and sex unknown, collected by W.W. Brown and J.E. Thayer in 1905 (not examined by authors). Herpele ochrocephalum : Norris and Hughes 1918: 493. Caecilia sabogae : Barbour and Loveridge 1929:234. Emendation. Oscaecilia ochrocephala : Taylor 1968:611.
• CONTENT . No subspecies have been described. MAP • DEFINITION . Adult Oscaecilia ochrocephala are . Distribution of Oscaecilia ochrocephala . The medium-sized caecilians (total length to 617 mm). type-locality is not known; black dots indicate report - ed localities. The species has 169–189 primary folds and 17–31 secondaries (Savage and Wake 2001). Dermal scales and subdermal scales are present. The eyes are reduced structurally and covered by bone and ies ( O. ochrocephala : primaries 169–198, secondar - skin. The tentacles are below and slightly anterior to ies 17–31; O. polyzona : primaries 202–206, second - the nostrils. Splenial teeth are present (2–4 on each aries 10–17). jaw ramus). The tongue is a fleshy pad in the floor of the mouth with two narial plugs. A terminal shield is • DESCRIPTIONS . Cope’s (1866) description of absent. The reproductive mode of this species in not Caecilia ochrocephala was brief. Dunn (1942) provid - known. Coloration in life is light gray dorsally, the ed detailed descriptions and measurements of a sides and venter gray-white; the annular grooves are large series of specimens. Taylor (1968) redescribed dark gray. The head is pale yellow to pink, lighter on the species and erected the genus Oscaecilia to in- the sides of the head, the upper and lower lips and clude those relatives of Caecilia that have the eyes the tip of the snout. The area surrounding the vent is under bone, including ochrocephala . He also amend - cream. Color in ethanol-preserved specimens is usu - ed the type -locality, without stating the basis for the ally light olive-gray dorsally with a yellowish head. change. The lower sides and venter are light greyish or yel - lowish-grey, with darker annular grooves. • ILLUSTRATIONS . Photographs of the species in- clude color plates in Brocchi (1883) and Ibañez et al. • DIAGNOSIS . The distribution of Oscaecilia elon - (1999), and black -and -white photos in Duellman and gata overlaps the southern part of the range of O. Trueb (1986) and Wells (2007). Taylor (1969c) pro - ochrocephala , but O. elongata is distinguished by the vided a black -and -white photograph of a preserved absence of secondary folds. Other sympatric species specimen he considered different enough from other of caecilians ( Caecilia nigricans and C. volcani ) have specimens examined that he referred to it as Oscae- their eyes in open sockets, so are referred to the cilia ochrocephala var. Taylor (1968) provided draw - genus Caecilia . The color pattern of O. ochrocephala ings of three views of the head, a ventral view of the is very similar to that of O. polyzona , but the latter body terminus, and the upper and lower jaws, black - species has an unsegmented terminal shield and a and -white photographs of the skull (Taylor 1969b), higher number of primary annuli and fewer secondar - scales (Taylor 1972), and illustrated five cervical ver - 881.2
tebrae (Taylor 1977). Maddin (2011) provided a bral proportions of this species with other caecilians. black -and -white photograph of a posterior view of the Jenkins et al. (2007) used specimens of O. ochro - sphenethmoid. Wake (2003) included line drawings cephala as comparative material in their treatise on a of the skull (dorsal, ventral and lateral views), the fossil species. Cope (1886) curso rially mentioned the hyobranchial skeleton, and the 4th vertebra and its structure of the copulatory organ. Most of the mor - ribs. Ramaswami (1944) povided line drawings of the phological publications mentioned in-clude photo - heart and circulatory system. Photographs and/or line graphs and/or line drawings of sections of organs drawings of various morphological features of the and/or whole structures. Phylogenetic anal-yses that species are included in the publications cited in the include O. ochrocephala appeared in Bou-lenger Pertinent Literature section. (1895), Nussbaum and Wilkinson (1989), Wake (1993a), Wake et al. (2005), Walsh (1988), Wil-kin - • DISTRIBUTION . Neotropical. The species occurs son (1997), Wilkinson and Nussbaum (1996, 2006), in Panama, perhaps exclusively (see Remarks ). Its and Zhang and Wake (2009). Systematic discussions reported range is from Cocle (Panama) to Turbo (Co- or lists that include the species are in Acos-ta -Galvis lombia), from sea level to 610 m. In Panama it has (2000), Auth (1994), Cope (1885, 1886), Dubois been recorded from central Pacific low islands, Isla (2005), Frost (2007), Frost et al. (2006), Ibáñ-ez D. et Saboga in the Archipelago de las Perlas, cordilleras al. (2000), Laurent (1984), Lescure et al. (1984), to the southeast of Darien, several localities along the Nussbaum (1979), Schmidt (1933), Smith and Smith Panama Canal, Ancon Hill, Albrook and Clayton mili - (1972), Taylor (1969b), and Wake (1986). Taxonomic tary bases, central Panama City, and from a number keys that include O. ochrocephala are provided by of protected areas including Parque Nacional Altos Lahanas and Savage (1999), Lynch (1999), Savage de Campana, Parque Nacional Soberania, and Barro and Wake (1972, 2001), and Taylor (1968, 1969a, Colorado Island (HerpNET 2009; IUCN 2009). 1973). Partial sequences of mitochondrial genes 16S The species is apparently highly fossorial, seldom and cytb are available in GenBank, as is the whole seen on the surface but occasionally found in exca - mitochondrial genome (Zhang and Wake 2009). vations such as freshly dug graves. It also can be found when building foundations are dug (to 10 m) • REMARKS . Cochran (1961) indicated that the and when new roads are developed. Residents of specimen referred to by Cope {1866), including refer - Gamboa have reported seeing it on the surface after ence to the collectors, is the USNM specimen listed flooding rains, and at dusk and dawn. as the type, but it is not clear how that specimen came to the USNM, nor whether it is the same one, • FOSSIL RECORD . None. given that data other than the locality “Panama” did not accompany the specimen. Dunn (1942) examined 101 specimens from muse - Most of the litera - • PERTINENT LITERATURE . um collections; 99 are from several areas of Panama, ture describes the morphology and discusses the 1 specimen is from Turbo, Colombia (MCZ 1492), systematics of the species. Distribution is summa - and 1 is recorded from Brazil without locality or muse - rized in the IUCN Red List (Lynch et al. 2004), and by um specimen number. Taylor (1968) examined the Dunn (1942), Lynch (1999), Lynch and Acosta specimen from Turbo and suggested that is morpho - (2004), Sav-age and Wake (2001), and Taylor (1968). logically similar to O. polyzona , which occurs in north - Habitat features are discussed by Ibañez et al. ern Colombia, including Turbo. Because no addition - (1999). Ecologi-cal notes are provided by Evans al specimens of O. ochrocephala had been reported (1947), Fouquette (1960), and Swanson (1945), and from there, Taylor inferred that the Turbo specimen predation was no-ted by Hallinan (1920) and Schmidt could be an O. polyzona . Taylor then (1973) recog - (1932). Osteol-ogy, especially of the head, was nized polyzona as a subspecies of ochrocephala . described by de Ja-ger (1939), Maddin (2011), Taylor Acosta -Galvis (2000) and Lynch (1999) included O. (1969b, 1977) and Wake (2003). Myology of the head ochrocephala in their lists of caecilians from was discussed by de Jager (1939) and of the body by Colombia. Lynch (1999) discussed the Turbo speci - Nussbaum and Naylor (1982). Fritzsch and Wake men, which he did not examine, and noted that still no (1988) described the inner ear, Norris (1917), de specimens of the species are in Colombian collec - Jager (1939) and Wake (1985) the eye, and de Jager tions, but he left the presence of O. ochrocephala in (1939), Jurgens (1971), and Schmidt and Wake Colombia an open question, pending examination of (1990) the olfactory and vomeronasal organs. Norris the Turbo specimen and additional material. We sug - and Hughes (1918) extensively described the brain gest that the specimen is not likely to be O. polyzona , and cranial and anterior spinal nerves. The innerva - however, because Lynch and Acosta (2004) state tion of the tongue and the hyobranchial apparatus that O. polyzona has a higher number of primary were analysed by Wake (1992, 1993a,b), and other annuli and that the number does not overlap that of aspects of neuroanatomy by de Jager (1939) and O. ochrocephala . The number of primary annuli of the Wake (1993a,b, 1994). Ra-maswami (1944) Turbo specimen falls within the range of those for O. described the heart and circulatory system. Scales ochrocephala . We concur that additional collection were described by Taylor (1972). The urogenital sys - and study is warranted. tem was described by Wake (1968, 1970a,b, 1972). The generic character of the eye not being in an Renous and Gasc (1989) compared body and verte - open socket, but covered by bone, is usually accu - 881.3
rate, but is subject to some variation. The junior au- plex sensory system (Amphibia: Gymnophiona). thor has observed, but rarely, both partial coverage Zoomorphology 108:201–217. by bone and coverage on one side but not the other Frost, D.R. 2007. Amphibian Species of the World: an in O. ochrocephala and other species in the genus. online reference. Version 5.1 (9 October 2007). Electronic Database accessible at: http:// re- • ETYMOLOGY . The specific epithet is derived search.amnh.org/herpetology/amphibia/index. ochro cephala from the Greek “ ”, yellow, and “ ” re- php. American Museum of Natural History, New ferring to the head. It is the basis for the common York. name. –, T. Grant, J. Faivovich, R.H. Bain, A. Haas, C.F.B. Haddad, R.O. de Sá, A. Channing, M. Wilkinson, LITERATURE CITED S.C. Donnellan, C.J. Raxworthy, J.A. Campbell, B.L. Blotto, P. Moler, R.C. Drewes, R.A Nuss- Acosta -Galvis, A.R. 2000. Ranas, Salamandras y baum, J.D. Lynch, D.M. Green, and W.C. 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