New amphibian family find for India (BBC)

[eppur_se_muova]

By Richard Black
Environment correspondent, BBC News

A new family of caecilians, the most enigmatic branch of the amphibians, has been discovered in northeastern India.

The animals, which at first glance resemble worms, live in forest soil and are most closely related to an African group of caecilians.

The females incubate their young for several months without eating.

Writing in the Royal Society journal Proceedings B, the scientists say the animals may be threatened by population growth and slash-and-burn agriculture.

Caecilians are very hard to spot as they live either underground or under leaf litter that lies on the soil.
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more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-17100578

[MineralMan]

1. Too cool! Nice photo at link.