It does live in much the same black, fertile soil that you also find earthworms as it feeds principally on earthworms and termites. They are the farmers’ friends as they eat a number of insect pests which may attack crop roots (Text from Measey et al. 2009, © SANBI).
This species is named for the type locality in the Taita Hills of southern Kenya.
This species is regularly called ‘mng’ori’ or earthworm in Kenya (Text from Measey et al. 2009, © SANBI).
The skull of the Taita Hills caecilian has no orbits for eyes, which are very small and can probably only tell the difference between light and dark. The adults have three fearsome rows of teeth (although they don’t bite people!) which they use to hold onto their prey while they spin in their burrows. Although the adults are nearly blind, they may be able to gauge the size of their prey by the amount of force required to spin it (Text from Measey et al. 2009, © SANBI).
The nearby Sagalla caecilian, B. neideni is similar, but adults are brown and do not have the lateral serrations (Text from Harper et al., 2010).
Males range from 150 to 370 mm and females 140 to 320 mm in snout-vent length (Harper et al., 2010).
This species is endemic to the Taita Hills region, including Mount Kasigau, in southeastern Kenya. It occurs on three of the four Taita blocks: Dawida, Mbololo and Kasigau (Harper et al., 2010).
This is a direct developing amphibian, laying eggs in small brooding chambers where the female guards them and turns them until they hatch. Once hatched the small pink juveniles have special teeth that are adapted to eat the skin from the mother’s back. This skin is believed to be especially nutritious for the young to grow quickly. By the time the young are ready to burrow independently in the soil they have changed to the distinctive black-blue colouration of this caecilian (Text from Measey et al. 2009, © SANBI).
Males have an intromittant organ (phallodium), which is inserted into the female cloaca during subterranean mating. As testes are active all year, mating may happen at any time, but breeding is associated with the short rains (October to December). Gravid females build round egg chambers in the soil, in which they lay their eggs (clutch size 1 to 10 eggs). Eggs hatch into small (30 mm) altricial juveniles with special foetal dentition which is used to remove shedding skin from the brooding female. Females are thought to shed more frequently and their skin contains extra nutrients. Juveniles stay with mothers until they reach 80 mm, after which they leave to live independently in the soil beginning with dark dorsal pigmentation, and later developing the blue ventrum. Adults are known to eat a wide range of soil macroinvertebrates dominated by termites and earthworms. Oversized prey is strongly gripped in the mouth while the animal rotates around its longitudinal axis (Text from Harper et al., 2010).
It does live in much the same black, fertile soil that you also find earthworms as it feeds principally on earthworms and termites. They are the farmers’ friends as they eat a number of insect pests which may attack crop roots (Text from Measey et al. 2009, © SANBI).
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| Rights holder/Author | Zimkus, Breda, Bergmann, Travis, African Amphibians Lifedesk |
| Source | http://africanamphibians.lifedesks.org/pages/27815 |
This is a direct developing amphibian, laying eggs in small brooding chambers where the female guards them and turns them until they hatch. Once hatched the small pink juveniles have special teeth that are adapted to eat the skin from the mother’s back. This skin is believed to be especially nutritious for the young to grow quickly. By the time the young are ready to burrow independently in the soil they have changed to the distinctive black-blue colouration of this caecilian (Text from Measey et al. 2009, © SANBI).
Males have an intromittant organ (phallodium), which is inserted into the female cloaca during subterranean mating. As testes are active all year, mating may happen at any time, but breeding is associated with the short rains (October to December). Gravid females build round egg chambers in the soil, in which they lay their eggs (clutch size 1 to 10 eggs). Eggs hatch into small (30 mm) altricial juveniles with special foetal dentition which is used to remove shedding skin from the brooding female. Females are thought to shed more frequently and their skin contains extra nutrients. Juveniles stay with mothers until they reach 80 mm, after which they leave to live independently in the soil beginning with dark dorsal pigmentation, and later developing the blue ventrum. Adults are known to eat a wide range of soil macroinvertebrates dominated by termites and earthworms. Oversized prey is strongly gripped in the mouth while the animal rotates around its longitudinal axis (Text from Harper et al., 2010).
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| Rights holder/Author | Zimkus, Breda, Zimkus, Breda, African Amphibians Lifedesk |
| Source | http://africanamphibians.lifedesks.org/pages/27815 |
The following is a representative barcode sequence, the centroid of all available sequences for this species.
There are 2 barcode sequences available from BOLD and GenBank.
Below is a sequence of the barcode region Cytochrome oxidase subunit 1 (COI or COX1) from a member of the species.
See the BOLD taxonomy browser for more complete information about this specimen and other sequences.
Males reach up to 348 mm, while females reach up to 333 mm (Malonza and Measey 2005). Animals from forest habitat were significantly larger than those from agricultural areas (Measey 2004). Adult bodies have a blue hue with contrasting annulation (Wollenberg and Measey 2009); newly hatched juveniles are unpigmented (Kupfer et al. 2008).
The name "ming'ori" means "earthworm" in the Kitaita language, which may reflect a local misconception that caecilians are earthworms (Measey 2004).
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| Rights holder/Author | See http://www.amphibiaweb.org/datause.html. |
| Source | http://amphibiaweb.org/cgi/amphib_query?where-genus=Boulengerula&where-species=taitana&account=amphibiaweb |
Barcode of Life Data Systems (BOLDS) Stats
Public Records: 2
Specimens with Barcodes: 2
Species With Barcodes: 1
This species is named for the type locality in the Taita Hills of southern Kenya.
This species is regularly called ‘mng’ori’ or earthworm in Kenya (Text from Measey et al. 2009, © SANBI).
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| Rights holder/Author | Zimkus, Breda, Zimkus, Breda, African Amphibians Lifedesk |
| Source | http://africanamphibians.lifedesks.org/pages/27815 |
Red List Criteria
Version
Year Assessed
Assessor/s
Reviewer/s
Contributor/s
Justification
History
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| Rights holder/Author | International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources |
| Source | http://www.iucnredlist.org/apps/redlist/details/59498 |
The skull of the Taita Hills caecilian has no orbits for eyes, which are very small and can probably only tell the difference between light and dark. The adults have three fearsome rows of teeth (although they don’t bite people!) which they use to hold onto their prey while they spin in their burrows. Although the adults are nearly blind, they may be able to gauge the size of their prey by the amount of force required to spin it (Text from Measey et al. 2009, © SANBI).
| License | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/ |
| Rights holder/Author | Zimkus, Breda, Zimkus, Breda, African Amphibians Lifedesk |
| Source | http://africanamphibians.lifedesks.org/pages/27815 |
Population
Population Trend
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| Rights holder/Author | International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources |
| Source | http://www.iucnredlist.org/apps/redlist/details/59498 |
This species is endemic to three of the four Taita Hills: Dawida (2,228 m asl, 38 km2), Mbololo (1,800 m asl, ca 8 km2), and Kasigau (1,645 m asl, 0.85 km2) (Malonza et al. 2010). It is known from about 1,000-1,900 m asl and its range, taken as a proxy for extent of Occurrence (EOO), is estimated to be ca 309 km2, while its area of occupancy (AOO) is estimated to be ca 47 km2 (Malonza et al. 2010). It was previously recorded only from Mbololo and Dawida; the relatively new isolated record from Mount Kasigau comprises a 50 km extension to the south-east of its occurrence (Malonza et al. 2010). Despite this extension, it is considered to have a much more restricted AOO than previously thought, given that more recent, extensive surveys have revealed that it does not occur in large areas of the Taita Hills of suitable altitude as they fall within a rain shadow (J. Measey pers. comm. May 2012). If each of the Taita Hills is considered a threat-defined location, it would occur in three such locations (J. Measey pers. comm. July 2013).
| License | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/ |
| Rights holder/Author | International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources |
| Source | http://www.iucnredlist.org/apps/redlist/details/59498 |
