Brasilotyphlus Taylor, 1968

Maciel, Adriano O. & Hoogmoed, Marinus S., 2011, Taxonomy and distribution of caecilian amphibians (Gymnophiona) of Brazilian Amazonia, with a key to their identification, Zootaxa 2984, pp. 1-53 : 18

Brasilotyphlus Taylor, 1968

Diagnosis. Maximum known TL 305 mm. Dermal scales present. Eye not visible externally, if present solidly covered by bone. Tentacle aperture small, widely separated from nostril, closer to corner of mouth; the tentacular opening in the position where the eye would be expected, visible from above or not. Nostrils subcircular, visible from above. Small terminal shield present. A weak vertical keel present or not on the terminal part of the body; no tail. Dentition in four distinct series (PMT, PVT, PT, DT), ST absent; maxillary teeth may reach the level of the choanae or posterior of them; PMT and DT teeth monocuspid, PVT and PT teeth bicuspid. A large diastema between the PT and PVT, the latter series forming a short semicircle. Tongue attached anteriorly to the mandibular mucosa, no narial plugs on tongue. Three species in Amazonian Brazil, of which only two are treated here (see above).

Remarks. Maciel et al. (2009) recently described a second species in this genus. The diastema between prevomerine and palatine teeth is the only known character in which Brasilotyphlus differs from Microcaecilia ( Maciel et al., 2009) . This slight difference and the number of character states shared between species in both genera suggest that these two genera are possibly synonymous ( Maciel et al., 2009).

A specimen from Roraima state, Brazil (MPEG 7779) seems to belong to an undescribed species of Brasilotyphlus , and probably belongs to a species that Ronald Nussbaum is working on (R.A. Nussbaum pers. comm.). We include this as Brasilotyphlus sp. in our list of Amazonian species but have not studied this specimen and do not include it in the identification key.