Joseph Patricio at 04:14, 18 December 2025

2025-12-18T04:14:33Z

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{{Short description|Species of amphibian}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2020}}
{{Use Indian English|date=January 2020}}
{{Speciesbox
| image = Ichthyophis kodaguensis from Basarekattae, India.jpg
| image_caption = Specimen from Basarekattae, [[Chickmagalur district]]
| status = DD | status_system = IUCN3.1
| status_ref = <ref name="iucn status 20 November 2021">{{cite iucn |author=David Gower, Mark Wilkinson |date=2008 |title=''Ichthyophis kodaguensis'' |volume=2008 |article-number=e.T136094A4232490 |doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2008.RLTS.T136094A4232490.en |access-date=20 November 2021}}</ref>
| taxon = Ichthyophis kodaguensis
| authority = {{Interlanguage link multi|Mark Wilkinson (herpetologist)|fr|Mark Wilkinson (herpétologiste)|lt=Wilkinson}}, Gower, Govindappa, and Venkatachalaiah, 2007<ref name="Wilkinson et al. 2007"/>
| synonyms =
| synonyms_ref = <ref name=Frost/>
}}

'''''Ichthyophis kodaguensis''''', also known as the '''Kodagu striped Ichthyophis''', is a species of [[caecilian]] in the family [[Ichthyophiidae]].<ref name="iucn status 20 November 2021" /><ref name=Frost/><ref name=AmphibiaWeb/> It is [[endemic]] to the southern [[Western Ghats]], India.<ref name="iucn status 20 November 2021" /><ref name=Frost/> All confirmed records are from southern [[Karnataka]] state, although it is also reported from adjacent [[Kerala]].<ref name=Frost/>

==Distribution==
In addition to its [[Type locality (biology)|type locality]], Venkidds Valley Estate south of [[Madikeri]] in the eponymous [[Kodagu district]],<ref name="Wilkinson et al. 2007"/> ''Ichthyophis kodaguensis'' is known from another locality in the Kodagu district north of Madikeri, and from the [[Chickmagalur district]]; all these records are from southern Karnataka state. It has been implied to occur in adjacent Kerala.<ref name=Frost/>

==Description==
The [[type series]] consists of seven females that measure {{convert|158|to|272|mm|in|1|abbr=on}} in total length. Width at the midbody is {{convert|8|to|12|mm|in|1|abbr=on}}. There are 276 to 306 ventral annuli.<ref name="Wilkinson et al. 2007"/> A later discovered, unsexed specimen measured {{convert|31|cm|in|1|abbr=on}} in total length and had 343 ventral annuli.<ref name="Molur and Molur 2011"/> The body is subcylindrical and slightly dorso-ventrally compressed. The head is slightly wider than the body. The eyes are surrounded by narrow whitish ring and are visible through unpigmented skin as small, dark circles with lighter grey central lens; they are slightly elevated above adjacent skin. Living individuals have long and thin tentacles. The body is dorsally uniform dark chestnut brown, with a slightly lighter snout. A bright, cream-yellow lateral stripe runs all along the length of the body; it has irregular margins and is interrupted at the first collar. The ventrum, paler than the dorsum, is lilac-grey-brown, slightly darker posteriorly and immediately adjacent to the lateral stripe.<ref name="Wilkinson et al. 2007"/>

==Habitat and conservation==
The type series was collected from a mixed coffee and [[areca nut]] plantation at {{convert|1143|m|abbr=on}} [[above sea level]]. The holotype was collected by digging in soil by a small stream.<ref name="Wilkinson et al. 2007"/> Another specimen was found at night on a dry pathway on a hill slope, just outside a wet evergreen forest fragment and some 50 m away from the closest water body, a rivulet.<ref name="Molur and Molur 2011"/> Two specimens have been found on a coffee plantation at an altitude similar to the type locality.<ref name="Bhatta et al. 2011"/>

In 2008, before new distributional records were published,<ref name="Molur and Molur 2011"/><ref name="Bhatta et al. 2011"/> the [[International Union for Conservation of Nature]] (IUCN) has classified ''Ichthyophis kodaguensis'' as "[[data deficient]]".<ref name="iucn status 20 November 2021" /> IUCN acknowledged the species as being able to live in agricultural habitat and thereby able to tolerate disturbed habitats, but considered available information too scarce to assess its conservation status.<ref name="iucn status 20 November 2021" />

==References==
{{Reflist|refs=
<ref name=AmphibiaWeb>{{cite web |url=https://amphibiaweb.org/species/7042 |title=''Ichthyophis kodaguensis'' |year=2019 |work=AmphibiaWeb |publisher=University of California, Berkeley |access-date=30 November 2019}}</ref>

<ref name="Bhatta et al. 2011">{{cite journal |last1=Bhatta |first1=Gopalakrishna |last2=Dinesh |first2=K. P. |last3=Prashanth |first3=P. |last4=Srinivasa |first4=R. |name-list-style=amp |title=New site record of ''Ichthyophis kodaguensis'' Wilkinson et al., 2007 (Amphibia: Ichthyophiidae) in the Western Ghats, Indi |journal=Journal of Threatened Taxa |date=2011 |volume=3 |issue=9 |pages=2104–2107 |doi=10.11609/JoTT.o2729.2104-7|doi-access=free }}</ref>

<ref name=Frost>{{cite web |url=http://research.amnh.org/vz/herpetology/amphibia/index.php//Amphibia/Gymnophiona/Ichthyophiidae/Ichthyophis/Ichthyophis-kodaguensis |title=''Ichthyophis kodaguensis'' Wilkinson, Gower, Govindappa, and Venkatachalaiah, 2007 |author=Frost, Darrel R. |year=2019 |work=Amphibian Species of the World: an Online Reference. Version 6.0 |publisher=American Museum of Natural History |access-date=30 November 2019}}</ref>

<ref name="Molur and Molur 2011">{{cite journal |last1=Molur |first1=S. |last2=Molur |first2=P. |name-list-style=amp |year=2011 |title=A new record of ''Ichthyophis kodaguensis'' |journal=Frog Leg |volume=16 |pages=21–23 |url=https://zoosprint.zooreach.org/ZoosPrintNewsLetter/frog_leg_16_May2011.pdf }}</ref>

<ref name="Wilkinson et al. 2007">{{cite journal |last1=Wilkinson |first1=Mark |last2=Gower |first2=David J. |last3=Govindappa |first3=Venu |last4=Venkatachalaiah |first4=G. |name-list-style=amp |title=A new species of ''Ichthyophis'' (Amphibia: Gymnophiona: Ichthyophiidae) from Karnataka, India |journal=Herpetologica |date=2007 |volume=63 |issue=4 |pages=511–518 |doi= 10.1655/0018-0831(2007)63[511:ANSOIA]2.0.CO;2|jstor=25209087 |s2cid=55052552 }}</ref>
}}

{{Taxonbar|from=Q3147690}}

[[Category:Ichthyophis|kodaguensis]]
[[Category:Endemic fauna of the Western Ghats]]
[[Category:Endemic amphibians of India]]
[[Category:Amphibians described in 2007]]

Ichthyophis kodaguensis - Revision history

Joseph Patricio at 04:14, 18 December 2025