Apoda
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The apodan Caecilia orientalis. Image credit:
Amphiban & Reptile Diversity Research Center, Univ. of Texas at Arlington
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One of the three orders of living amphibians
(class Amphibia). Apodans, also called caecilians, are
not familiar to most people, in the way for example that frogs, toads, and
newts are, nor do they have any common names. They live in the tropics and
resemble large, gray earthworms, having no limbs and only minute, almost
useless eyes. They do, however, have tiny scales in their skin – a
feature absent from other amphibians. Most of them burrow in damp soil but
a few live in water. The eggs are large and
laid in damp soil or in water, but some species are viviparous. The free-living
larval stage may be suppressed as in some salamanders.
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• ZOOLOGY
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