TY  - JOUR
A1  - Geissler, Peter
A1  - Poyarkov, Nikolay A.
A1  - Grismer, Lee
A1  - Nguyen, Truong Q.
A1  - An, Hang T.
A1  - Neang, Thy
A1  - Kupfer, Alexander
A1  - Ziegler, Thomas
A1  - Böhme, Wolfgang
A1  - Müller, Hendrik
T1  - New Ichthyophis species from Indochina (Gymnophiona, Ichthyophiidae): 1. The unstriped forms with descriptions of three new species and the redescriptions of I-acuminatus Taylor, 1960, I-youngorum Taylor, 1960 and I-laosensis Taylor, 1969
JF  - Organisms, diversity & evolution : official journal of the Gesellschaft für Biologische Systematik
N2  - Caecilians of the genus Ichthyophis Fitzinger, 1826 are among the most poorly known amphibian taxa within Southeast Asia. Populations of Ichthyophis from the Indochina region (comprising Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam) have been assigned to five taxa: Ichthyophis acuminatus, Ichthyophis bannanicus, Ichthyophis kohtaoensis, Ichthyophis laosensis, and Ichthyophis nguyenorum. Barcoding of recently collected specimens indicates that Indochinese congeners form a clade that includes several morphologically and genetically distinct but yet undescribed species. Although body coloration is supported by the molecular analyses as a diagnostic character at species level, unstriped forms are paraphyletic with respect to striped Ichthyophis. Based on our morphological and molecular analyses, three distinct unstriped ichthyophiid species, Ichthyophis cardamomensis sp. nov. from western Cambodia, Ichthyophis catlocensis sp. nov. from southern Vietnam, and Ichthyophis chaloensis sp. nov. from central Vietnam are described as new herein, almost doubling the number of Ichthyophis species known from the Indochinese region. All three new species differ from their unstriped congeners in a combination of morphological and molecular traits. In addition, redescriptions of three unstriped Ichthyophis species (Ichthyophis acuminatus, I. laosensis, I. youngorum) from Indochina and adjacent Thailand are provided.
KW  - Biogeography
KW  - Caecilians
KW  - Indochina
KW  - Cambodia
KW  - Laos
KW  - Thailand
KW  - Vietnam
KW  - mtDNA
KW  - Barcoding
KW  - COI
KW  - cyt b
KW  - Phylogeny
KW  - Integrative taxonomy
Y1  - 2015
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1007/s13127-014-0190-6
SN  - 1439-6092
SN  - 1618-1077
VL  - 15
IS  - 1
SP  - 143
EP  - 174
PB  - Springer
CY  - Heidelberg
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Kühnel, Susanne
A1  - Kupfer, Alexander
T1  - Sperm storage in caecilian amphibians
JF  - Frontiers in zoology
N2  - Background: Female sperm storage has evolved independently multiple times among vertebrates to control reproduction in response to the environment. In internally fertilising amphibians, female salamanders store sperm in cloacal spermathecae, whereas among anurans sperm storage in oviducts is known only in tailed frogs. Facilitated through extensive field sampling following historical observations we tested for sperm storing structures in the female urogenital tract of fossorial, tropical caecilian amphibians.
 Findings: In the oviparous Ichthyophis cf. kohtaoensis, aggregated sperm were present in a distinct region of the posterior oviduct but not in the cloaca in six out of seven vitellogenic females prior to oviposition. Spermatozoa were found most abundantly between the mucosal folds. In relation to the reproductive status decreased amounts of sperm were present in gravid females compared to pre-ovulatory females. Sperm were absent in females past oviposition.
 Conclusions: Our findings indicate short-term oviductal sperm storage in the oviparous Ichthyophis cf. kohtaoensis. We assume that in female caecilians exhibiting high levels of parental investment sperm storage has evolved in order to optimally coordinate reproductive events and to increase fitness.
KW  - Reproduction
KW  - Sperm storage
KW  - Amphibians
KW  - Caecilians
Y1  - 2012
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1186/1742-9994-9-12
SN  - 1742-9994
VL  - 9
IS  - 23
PB  - BioMed Central
CY  - London
ER  -