Chikilas

Chikilidae is a family of Indian caecilians, the 10th and most recent (2012) family of caecilians (legless amphibians) to be identified, although the type species, Chikila fulleri (formerly Herpele fulleri) was first described in 1904.

Chikilids grow to about 10 cm in length. They have very limited eyesight and skulls adapted for burrowing. Their eggs hatch into adult caecilians, with no larval stage in between. The mothers stay wrapped around their developing eggs for two to three months, apparently not eating at all during this period.

Until this discovery, only nine families of caecilians were known from across the wet tropical regions of Southeast Asia, India, Sri Lanka, parts of East and West Africa, the Seychelles, Central America and northern and eastern parts of South America. From morphological and DNA analyses, the researchers concluded the new family had evolved independently of other caecilians since the time of the dinosaurs.