Taxonomia dos anfíbios da ordem Gymnophiona da Amazônia Brasileira

Abstract

Eighty nine species of Gymnophiona are known to occur in the Neotropical region, most of them with a poorly resolved taxonomy. Some genera are clearly nonmonophyletic. At the species level, the lack of museum specimens, mainly due to the difficulty of collection, do not allow for study of variation in characters usually used in taxonomic decisions. This study was implemented to evaluate and provide knowledge on the nongeographic and geographic variation in external morphologic traits in the Gymnophiona species from Brazilian Amazonia. A total of 623 specimens from 10 Brazilian and 2 international collections were analyzed. To this point 16 Gymnophiona species are recognized in Brazilian Amazonia, two are regarded as incertae sedis. Caecilia marcusi Wake, 1984 is synonymized with C. mertensi Taylor, 1973 on the basis of analyzed material from several Brazilian localities, of one paratype of C. marcusi and from digital photographs of the holotype of C. mertensi. A new species of Rhinatrema and one of Microcaecilia are described. Little geographic variation was found among examined characters. Multivariate analysis showed low variation in morphometric traits between populations of Caecilia gracilis and Caecilia tentaculata. Problems in species diagnosis are evident by the fact that for some specimens specific identification was not possible, and they were left as incertae sedis. The distribution and conservation status of all identified species recognized here are discussed.