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Little Is Known About the Diet of Caecilians Relative to Other Tetrapods

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Little Is Known About the Diet of Caecilians Relative to Other Tetrapods SHORT NOTES SHORT NOTES HERPETOLOGICAL JOURNAL, Vol. 12, pp. 123-126 (2002) SCOLECOPHIDIAN SNAKES IN THE DIETS OF SOUTH ASIAN CAECILIAN AMPHIBIANS BRONWEN PRESSWELL1 •2, DAVID J . GOWER' , OOMEN V. 00MEN3, G . JOHN MEASEY 1 •4 AND MARK WILKINSON' 'Department of Zoology, Th e Natural History Museum, London, SW7 5BD, UK "Molecular Genetics, University of Glasgow, Pontecorvo Building, 56 Dumbarton Rd, Glasgow G11 6NU, UK 3Department of Zoology, Un iversity of Kera/a, Kariavattom-695 581 Th iruvananthapuram, Kera/a, India 'Laboratoire d'Ecologie des Sols Tropicaux, Institut de FIG. 1. X-ray from ventral surface of specimen of Recherche pour le Developpment, 32 Avenue Henri Gegeneophis ramaswamii Taylor showing a scolecophidian Varagnat, 93143 Bondy Cedex, France snake, Ramphotyp hlops brahminus (Daudin), inside it. The outline of the snake lies beyond the body of the caecilian Key words: Gymnophiona, Gegeneophis, Ichthyophis, India, because a ventral incision in the body wall resulted in the Sri Lanka, Typhlopidae protrusion of viscera. Total length of the caecilian is 290 mm. A recent review concluded that "Little is known Sarasin & Sarasin (1887-1890) reported that species about the diet of caecilians relative to other tetrapods" of lchthyophis eat small burrowing scolecophidian (O'Reilly, 2000: 148), a deficiencythat is symptomatic snakes, and Greeff( 1884: 18) reported discovering a of many aspects of the biology of the Order small scolecophidian in the gut of a Schistometopum Gymnophiona. It is known that caecilians in nature take thomense Barboza du Bocage from the island of Sao a variety of invertebrate prey (e.g. Daudin, 1802-3; Tome. Here we report and discuss two instances of bur­ Wall, 1922; Gliesch, 1929; Taylor, 1968; Largen et a/., rowing scolecophidian snakes in the diets of two south 1972; Wake, 1980; Gudynas & Williams, 1986; Asian caecilians. Hebrard et al., 1992; Nussbaum, 1998; Verdade et al., Gegeneophis ramaswamii Taylor is a caeciliid 2000) and that earthworms and termites (soil ecosystem caecilian from the Western Ghats region of southern engineers, Lavelle et al., 1998) make up a substantial Kerala, India, where it is common in a wide range of proportion of the diet of some terrestrial species. habitats (Oommen et al., 2000). As with many There are fe wer reports in the literature of caecilians caeciliids, G. ramaswamii has a solidly-boned and corn- taking vertebrate prey. Small fish are knownto be eaten in the wild by aquatic species such as Typhlonectes natans (Fischer) (Lancini, I 969), T. compressicauda (Dumeril & Bibron) (Moodie, 1978) and Potomotyphlus kaupii (Berthold) (Fuhrmann, 1914). Anuran tadpoles have been reported in the diet of T. compressicauda (Verdade et al., 2000) and there is a single report of the remains of an adult anuran in the gut of the semi-aquatic Chthonerpeton indistinctum (Reinhardt and Lutken) (Prigioni & Langone, 1983). Moll & Smith ( 1967) reported discovering two lizards (the teiid Ameiva undulata parva Barbour & Noble and the polychrotid Ano/is dollfusianus Bocourt) in the gut of an adult Dermophis mexicanus (Dumeril & Bibron). Correspondence: B. Presswell, Flat 6, Granary Court, FIG. 2 Photograph of ventral surface of specimen of Penygraig Farm, Rhydyfelin, Aberystwyth, Ceredigion, Gegeneophis ramaswamii Taylor and a Ramphotyp hlops SY23 4QA, Wales, UK. brahminus (Daudin) removed from its gut. Inset shows the E-mail: [email protected] snake in the gut prior to dissection. Scale bar in millimetres. 124 SHORT NOTES pact skull that lacks an orbit (Ramaswami, 1942) and it fromthe vent of the I. glutinosus. The snake was dead, is a proficientburrower in soil (pers. obs. ). In the course but no significant external damage was apparent. We of ongoing studies of this species, a snake was discov­ believe that the most likely explanation for this is that ered inside one specimen (Department of Zoology, the snake was ingested and egested by the caecilian dur­ University ofKerala, fieldtag MW 1292) by X-ray (Fig. ing the six hours between capture and processing, 1 ), and its position within the gut of the caecilian con­ without being notably digested. An X-ray of the I. firmed by dissection (Fig. 2). The G. ramaswamii glutinosus specimen revealed the absence of any other specimen is a relatively large male (total length, TL = vertebrate prey within the digestive tract. 290 mm) collected on 7 July 2000 from near Shonlode, The single Ramphotyphlops brahminus (MW 2049) KanyakurnariDis trict, Tamil Nadu (08° 20' N: 77° 23' E, is the only vertebrate prey found by us in the X-ray ex­ 60 m as!). This is a new locality not reported by amination of approximately four hundred specimens Oommen et al. (2000), and the second reported presence (various institutions) of Gegeneophis ramaswamii from of G. ramaswamii in the state of Tamil Nadu. The speci­ many localities in southern Kerala. Similarly, X-rays men was collected from a smallholding (home garden) and dissections (by BP, DJG & MW) of hundreds of where it was dug from moist, loose, organically rich soil ichthyophiids from India, Sri Lanka, and south-east Asia between a cow shed and a stream. The snake (University have not previously revealed the presence of vertebrate of Kerala, MW 2094) is an example of the typhlopid prey. This suggests that scolecophidian snakes are only Ramphotyp hlops brahminus (Daudin), with a TL of a minor part of the diets of these caecilian species. about 85 mm. It had been ingested tail-firstan d was be­ Scolecophidian snakes occur at much lower densities tween one third and one half along the alimentary canal than G. ramaswamii and /. glutinosus in those habitats of the caecilian. It was not stretched out, but instead in which we have encountered these caecilians (unpub­ sharply folded along its long axis in several places (Fig. lished quantitative data). This is consistent with the 2). There is very little sign of damage caused by diges­ hypothesis that these caecilians encounter tion. Other than a small patch near the vent end, the scolecophidians rarely and fe ed on them scales are in position and undamaged. Despite being opportunistically. protruded, the tongue is also undamaged. The X-ray re­ The generally undigested appearance of the veals no indication of bone damage, though the scolecophidian found in the G. ramaswamii specimen vertebral column appears to have become partially dis­ might be at least partly explained by its relatively ante­ located toward the middle of the body, where the rior position along the alimentary canal. The swift strongest flexion has occurred. passage of the Sri Lankan scolecophidian through the Ichthyophiid caecilians have a less consolidated ar­ digestive system of the I. glutinosus specimen, and its rangement of skull bones than G. ramaswamii, and a undamaged appearance, raises the speculative possibil­ small, but externallyvisible eye (e.g. Taylor, 1968). Be­ ity that scolecophidians represent a relatively cause Ichthyophis species are sometimes encountered in indigestible class of caecilian prey, from which only leaf litter and loose soil (e.g. Nussbaum & Gans, 1980), limited nutrition can be extracted. It is also possible, they have been considered surface-cryptic (e.g. perhaps, that the scolecophidian was alive when in­ Ramaswami, 1941 ), but they can also be found in firm gested, and that this, in part, accelerated its rapid soil (e.g. Nussbaum & Gans, 1980; pers. obs. ). The passage through the /. glutinosus gut. However, there caecilian fauna of Sri Lanka is currently considered to are no background data on the passage time of items comprise three endemic species of /chthyophis through the gut of caecilians. (Nussbaum & Gans, 1980), with /. glutinosus We recognise that understanding the diets of organ­ (Linnaeus) being the most widespread on the island. On isms requires systematic quantitative investigations 18 November 2000, a collection of subterranean verte­ rather than isolated ad hoe reports. However, given the brates was made by digging compost and moist soil in a relative lack of data on caecilian diets (O'Reilly, 2000), garden adjacent to secondary forest in Tiniyawala near even isolated reports are worthwhile. Our observations Palawatta, Kalutara District, Western Province, Sri also have additional implications. Gans ( 1993 : 191) Lanka (N 06° 25' E 80° 19', 175 mas!). Taxa collected suggested that at least Sri Lankan caecilians are general­ included examples of the typhlopid scolecophidian ly confinedto moist zones: "Consideration of the places snake Ramphotyphlops brahminus and the caecilian /. where /chthyophis were taken suggests that they always glutinosus. One living R. brahminus specimen (National move parallel to streams and do not seem to cross the Museum, Colombo, field tag MW 1768; TL = 122 mm) dry zones between these." Gans contrasted this with the was temporarily stored in soil in a small plastic bag distribution of Sri Lankan scolecophidian snakes (p. within a larger bag containing soil and one living /. 192): "The snakes of the genera Typ hlops and Rampho­ glutinosus from the same locality (National Museum, typ hlops are found on dry surfaces, within dry decaying Colombo, field tag MW 1769; Mass = 30.9 g, TL = 350 pieces of wood and beneath rocks." In discussing the mm). In observing these specimens some six hours later, significance of fe wer probable species of typhlopid it was found that the snake had escaped from a small scolecophidian snakes in southern India than in (the hole in the comer of its small bag. It was found within much smaller area of) Sri Lanka, Gans (1998: 103) stat­ the larger bag, approximately half-protruding, head-first ed that "the relative number of species is clearly the SHORT NOTES 125 reverse of that in caecilians. This suggests that the two Sri Lanka, 189-199. Erdelen W., Preu C., Jshwaran N., groups occupy truly distinct subsets of the environment & Madduma Bandara C.M. (eds.) Margraf Verlag. and that its subdivision is highly different." The findings Gans, C.
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