. Bulletin of the Natural History Museum Zoology. Fig. 8 Uraeotyphlus cf. narayani (UMMZ 139810). Cloaca of immature male, prepared as specimen shown in Fig. 6. Scale = 2 mm. with many groups of caecilians, the taxonomy of Uraeotyphlus has an inadequate basis, with some species known from only few specimens, many with poor locality data. Few diagnostic characters have been identified and current keys are not satisfactory, so that caution needs to be exercised in applying names to individuals, and in assuming species identity of groups of individuals. The following discussion draws on the exami
. Bulletin of the Natural History Museum Zoology. Fig. 8 Uraeotyphlus cf. narayani (UMMZ 139810). Cloaca of immature male, prepared as specimen shown in Fig. 6. Scale = 2 mm. with many groups of caecilians, the taxonomy of Uraeotyphlus has an inadequate basis, with some species known from only few specimens, many with poor locality data. Few diagnostic characters have been identified and current keys are not satisfactory, so that caution needs to be exercised in applying names to individuals, and in assuming species identity of groups of individuals. The following discussion draws on the examination of the cloaca in more than 30 male Uraeotyphlus representing at least three distinct species. The focus here is on features of the lumenal surface of the anterior portion of the phallodeum, chiefly the longitudinal ridges and their ornamentation. Figures 4 to 8 show the morphology of the phallus and dissected cloacae of four specimens. These are identified as Uraeotyphlus cf. narayani Seshachar, 1939, but unpublished morphological and mole- cular data have revealed previously unsuspected diversity in the populations that these individuals are drawn from. It is not yet apparent whether this diversity is indicative of previously unrecog- nised specific or subspecific taxa. Whatever their true specific identity, these four specimens share a common pattern in the major features of the anterior phallodeum. There are seven major longitu- dinal phallodeal ridges - a single mid-dorsal ridge, and pairs of dorsolateral, lateral, and ventrolateral ridges. As in most other caecilians, the anterior end of each dorsolateral ridge holds a major longitudinal sulcus that extends into the corresponding blind sac (Figs. 4, 5, 9). In mature individuals, each of the major longitudinal ridges bear hardened transverse thickenings. When relatively small, these thickenings bear an approximately transverse narrow line of dense, opaque tissue that stands out against the more translucent main body
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