Animalia > Chordata > Amphibia > Gymnophiona > Scolecomorphidae > Scolecomorphus > Scolecomorphus kirkii

Scolecomorphus kirkii (Kirk's Caecilian)

Synonyms: Scolecomorphus convexus; Scolecomorphus kirkii kirkii

Wikipedia Abstract

Scolecomorphus kirkii (common names: Kirk's caecilian, Lake Tanganyika caecilian) is a species of caecilian in the family Scolecomorphidae. It is known from southern Malawi east of the Shire River, northern Mozambique, and Tanzania (including Nguru Mountains, Uluguru Mountains); the known distribution is discontinuous but it is expected to occur in the intervening areas. It is named after Sir John Kirk, a Scottish diplomat, naturalist, and explorer.
View Wikipedia Record: Scolecomorphus kirkii

EDGE Analysis

Uniqueness Scale: Similiar (0) 
19
 Unique (100)
Uniqueness & Vulnerability Scale: Similiar & Secure (0) 
45
 Unique & Vulnerable (100)
ED Score: 37.12
EDGE Score: 3.64
Learn more at EDGE of Existence programme

Attributes

Adult Length [1]  18 inches (46.3 cm)
Diet [1]  Carnivore (Invertebrates)

Protected Areas

Name IUCN Category Area acres Location Species Website Climate Land Use
Udzungwa Mountains National Park 491740 Tanzania  
West Kilombero Scarp Forest Reserve 475189 Tanzania  

Biodiversity Hotspots

Name Location Endemic Species Website
Coastal Forests of Eastern Africa Kenya, Mozambique, Somalia, Tanzania No
Eastern Afromontane Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, Tanzania, Uganda, Yemen, Zimbabwe No

Predators

Atractaspis aterrima (Mole Viper, Slender Burrowing Asp)[2]

Range Map

External References

Citations

Attributes / relations provided by
♦ 1Oliveira, Brunno Freire; São-Pedro, Vinícius Avelar; Santos-Barrera, Georgina; Penone, Caterina; C. Costa, Gabriel. (2017) AmphiBIO, a global database for amphibian ecological traits. Sci. Data.
♦ 2The caecilian amphibian Scolecomorphus kirkii Boulenger as prey of the burrowing asp Atractaspis aterrima Gu ̈ nther: trophic relationships of fossorial vertebrates, David J. Gower, Jens B. Rasmussen, Simon P. Loader and Mark Wilkinson, 2004, African Journal of Ecology, Afr. J. Ecol., 42, 83–87
Biodiversity Hotspots provided by Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund
Abstract provided by DBpedia licensed under a Creative Commons License
Species taxanomy provided by GBIF Secretariat (2022). GBIF Backbone Taxonomy. Checklist dataset https://doi.org/10.15468/39omei accessed via GBIF.org on 2023-06-13; License: CC BY 4.0