The role of gold mining in deforestation in tropical South America.

The rate of deforestation in South America has risen sharply since the 1990s, driven largely by economic growth in nations such as China, particularly the greater market for meat this has created, which has led to forests being felled both directly to create new pasture and to grow cattle-feed crops such as Soybeans. An increased disposable income in countries such as China and India has also led to a rising demand for gold for personal use (i.e. jewellery etc.), which combined with uncertainty on the global financial markets since 2007/8 has led to a sharp rise in the price of gold, from US$250 an ounce in 2000 to US$1300 an ounce in 2013. This has in turn created a global boom in the gold mining industry, with both large and small scale miners expanding their activities in many areas, and in particular mining activities increasing sharply in many areas where this was not previously considered economically viable, such as low grade deposits in tropical rainforests.

While the amount of land cleared for mining and associated activities (roads, settlements etc.) is never likely to be as extensive as that caused by agriculture or urban expansion, the environmental effects of mining can be particularly severe, resulting in not just the loss of canopy trees but also the removal of soil and bedrock, and the widespread use of persistent pollutants such as mercury, arsenic and cyanide, all of which can enter aquatic ecosystems and cause damage over a wide area.

In a paper published in the journal Environmental Research Letters on 13 January 2015, Nora Alvarez-Berríos of the Department of Environmental Sciences at the University of Puerto Rico-Río Piedras and Mitchell Aide of the Department of Biology, University of Puerto Rico-Río Piedras describe the results of a study intended to detect rates of deforestation directly attributable to gold mining in South American moist forests below 1000 m, between 2000 and 2013.

Many areas within this region have soils rich in alluvial gold (gold that has been eroded from rocks elsewhere, in this case generally the High Andes or Guyanan Shield, and deposited by the action of rivers), which can be accessed by extracting washing and chemically treating the soil. While this process is highly destructive, it has significant economic impacts, contributing 6% of the total GDP of Peru in 2000-2010, creating 140 000 jobs in the formal sector (and an unknown number in the informal sector) in Colombia, and employing around 200 000 people in Brazil and 60 000 people in Surinam (which is 12% of the total population).

Alvarez-Berríos and Aide used data from government records, records of mining companies, articles in peer-reviewed journals and news reports, as well as imagery from Google Earth, Digital Globe and Landsat to determine the sites of mining activities in 373 municipalities in Colombia, Peru, Suriname, Guyana, French Guiana, Brazil, Venezuela, and Ecuador. In order to avoid overcomplicating the data, municipalities not known to produce gold were excluded from the study, and the legal status of mining sites was not taken into account. Once the sites of interest were established, vegetation index data from the MODIS satellites was obtained for the period 2000-2013, in order to determine rates of deforestation and reforestation around these sites.

The study site encompasses the tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forest biome with elevations of less than 1000 m. Black dots indicate epicenters of active and potential gold mining sites (i.e. geographical centroids) based on literature reviews and government and private mining databases Alvarez-Berríos & Aide (2015).

Alvarez-Berríos and Aide found that from 2000 till 2013, 1680 km² of forest was cleared at mining sites within the study area, while 245 km² of forest regrew. Most of the forest loss occurred in the second half of the study period, with ∼377 km² of forest loss in 2000-2006 and ∼1303 km² of forest loss in 2007-2013. This indicates that the rate of deforestation associated with mining is increasing, and also a sharp rise in mining activity after the financial crisis of 2007/8, when gold prices rose sharply. Conversely most of the regrowth occurred in the first half of the period, with ∼178 km² of forest regrowth in 2000-2006 and only ∼67 km² in 2007-2013. While these losses occurred across the whole region, 89% of the total occurred in just four regions.

Distribution of gold mining sites with significant change in forest cover (ha) in periods 2001–2006 and 2007–2013. Green dots represent an increase in forest cover, red dots represent a decrease in forest cover, and grey areas indicate significant change in cover. Alvarez-Berríos & Aide (2015).

The largest losses were recorded in the Guianan moist forest ecoregion, which covers forests across Suriname, Guyana, French Guiana and Venezuela, an area of high mineral richness which produces large amounts of gold, diamonds, iron and bauxite, and where mining is already considered to be a major cause of deforestation (for example 68% of deforestation in Guyana between 2000 and 2010 is attributed to mining). Alvarez-Berríos and Aide detected ∼684 km² of forest loss associated with gold mining in this region over the study period, 41% of the entire loss detected. The majority of this deforestation occurred in just two municipalities in Surinam, Brokopondo and Sipaliwini. Gold mining across the Guianan moist forest ecoregion increased sharply between 1990 and 2004, following liberalization of the international gold market and an influx of miners from Brazil, where the enforcement of land use and tribal land laws had been tightened. Much of this deforestation was attributed to small and medium scale mining operations, though some of it was attributed to (in theory better regulated) large operations.

The second highest level of deforestation occurred in the Peruvian Southwest Amazon, where ∼473 km² of forest loss occurred (28% of the total), predominantly in the municipalities of Inambari, Madre de Dios, and Huepetuhe in the Department of Madre de Dios. The rate of deforestation sharply increased between 1999-2006, when an average of 21.66 km² was lost each year, and 2007-2013, when an average of 61.56 km² was lost each year (an almost threefold increase). In the period 2001-2006 agricultural expansion was considered to be the major cause of deforestation in Madre de Dios, but from 2007 onwards gold mining is considered to have overtaken agriculture as the primary cause of deforestation. This is directly linked to the rise in gold values, and subsequent increase in potential earnings in the industry, with an agricultural day labourer able to earn around US$15-18 per day, while a artisanal miner can earn US$10-230 per day.

The third highest level of deforestation occurred in the Tapajós–Xingú moist forest in Brazil, where ∼183 km² of forest was lost around gold mining sites, 11% of the total loss detected in the study. This loss occurred at sites across the region, though much of it was found in the municipality of Itaituba. This area is considered to be the most important gold mining region in Brazil, with the majority of extraction undertaken by small scale artisanal miners. The number of miners in the region has risen from about 10 000 in 1990 to about 100 000 in 2010, with the largest influx occurring after 2008, largely due to the recolonization of areas previously considered exhausted, but which became profitable again as rising gold prices made it profitable to work marginal reserves previously considered uneconomicly viable.

The fourth highest level of forest loss occurred in the Magdalena Valley montane forest and Magdalena-Urabá moist forest ecoregions of Colombia, where ∼144 km² of forest was lost, 9% of the total forest loss detected in the survey. This area has been considered an area of major forest loss over the period 2000-2010, due to oil exploration, cattle ranching, small-scale agriculture, and gold mining. Gold has been an important economic activity in the region since 1990, but as in other regions has undergone a major expansion in the last decade. The situation is made more complicated in Colombia due to the presence of guerrilla and paramilitary groups which derive income from mining, with around 86% of mining being illegal (i.e. unlicensed and unregulated by the government) and 20% of the proceeds of illegal mining going to groups such as the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and National Liberation Army (ELN). Interestingly this area also saw the only major occurrence of reforestation produced in the study, in the municipalities of Nechí and Caucasia, which Alvarez-Berríos and Aide attribute to ongoing conflict in the region which leads to displacement of human populations, and abandonment of the activities in which they were involved.

Much of the mining occurred in remote areas which were otherwise undisturbed, and consequently in areas of protected forests. About 9% of the total losses occurred within strict protection areas (i.e. areas where human activity is in theory restricted to tourism and conservation work), a total loss of about 15 km², although 12 km² was lost from a single such area, the Rio Novo National Park in Brazil. A further 31% of the detected losses occurred within the 10 km buffer zones around such strict preservation areas, with the worst losses occurring in the buffer zones around the Rio Novo National Park in Brazil (84 km²) and Bahuaja Sonene National Park in Peru (27 km²). About 14% of the total losses occurred in multiple use conservation areas (i.e. conservation areas where some other activities are allowed), with the highest losses occurring in the Tapajós Environmental Protection Area in Brazil, where 142 km² of forest was lost. However the majority of deforestation occurred in the 10 km buffer zones around such multiple conservation areas, where 58% of all losses were recorded. The worst affected areas were the Communal Reserve Amarakaeri buffer zone in Peru, where 103 km² of forest was lost, and the Tambopata National Reserve buffer zone, also in Peru, where 66 km² of forest was lost.

See also…

Mapping deforestation on Borneo.

Industrial scale timber extraction began on Borneo in the 1970s and during the period 1980 to 2000 more timber was harvested from Borneo than from Africa and the Amazon Basin combined. In addition much forest has been cleared to make way for monoculture plantations, for the palm oil, rubber and timber industries, as well as being burned in forest fires.  For this reason the island is often assumed to be a hopeless case...

Columbia gold mine collapse kills at least three.

Three people are known to have died and about thirty more are missing following a cave-in at an unlicensed gold mine near Santander de Quilichao in the...

At least four dead following Columbian mine explosion.

At least four people have died and between 65 and 95 are reported to be injured following an explosion at...

Follow Sciency Thoughts on Facebook.

Number of Saki Monkey species raised from five to sixteen.

Saki Monkeys of the genus Pithecia are found throughout the tropical forests of South America. The taxonomy of the group is poorly understood, as species are often both variable and similar to other species and hard to observe in the wild, favouring old growth and often flooded forests. Many species were described in the nineteenth and early twentieth century by taxonomists working in European museums, with little or no information on where the specimens were collected, and only a limited understanding of the life histories of the living animals. 

Female Saki Monkeys tend to be slightly smaller than males, but not to a great enough extent that this feature can be used to determine sex. More reliable is colouration, with adult males of most species having a distinctive coat that separates them from the females. However only fully adult males have this coat, with sub-adults resembling females, then going through an intermediate phase as they develop their male colouration, which can be mistaken for a completely different species. Since it can be hard to determine the sex of living Saki Monkeys by physical examination, this presented a considerable obstacle to nineteenth century taxonomists working from preserved specimens of unknown or inaccurately recorded origin (many early collectors in South America simply bought specimens from local hunters in large towns without worrying about where they came from; some may have lied about the origin of their specimens when selling them on to museums in order to increase their value).

The behaviour of the Monkeys does little to help this situation. They tend to live in dense and inaccessible forests, and for the most part will avoid contact with humans. They live in small family groups, often with subadult females as well as younger offspring, and when threatened the adult female will often sit on a conspicuous branch with an older juvenile female to observe the threat, while younger members of the group hide and the male circles round shaking vegetation to create a diversion. Thus observations of ‘pairs’ of Saki Monkeys are typically of an adult and subadult female.

Like most primate groups, Saki Monkeys are quite well studied today, but largely by ecologists rather than taxonomists. Ecologists for the most part have little taste for taxonomy, which tends to involve the extensive study of dead specimens in museums. However understanding the taxonomy of a group is vitally important for long-term conservation, as it is impossible to accurately determine population sizes or distribution if it is not possible to determine whether populations belong to the same or different species.

The last major review of the taxonomy of Saki Monkeys was carried out in 1987, when Phillip Hershkovitz of the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago split the genus into five species and several subspecies (expand). 

In a paper published in the journal Neotropical Primates in July 2014, Laura Marsh of the Global Conservation Institute in Santa Fe, New Mexico, undertakes a complete review of the genus Pithecia, concluding that there are in fact sixteen species. In doing this she reinstates three previously described species, promotes three subspecies to full species level, and erects five new species.

The White-faced Saki, Pithecia pithecia, was first described in 1766 by Swedish naturalist Carlus Linnaeus (under the name Simia pithecia, Saki Monkeys were not placed in a separate genus till 1804). The name has remained in use till today, though museum specimens have been described as a number of other species, and other species have been described as Pithecia pithecia. Adult male White-faced Sakis are more-or-less completely black, with white ‘half-moon’ facial disks. Females are brownish or greyish and may have white striping, and have orange chest hair, the colour of which varies in intensity in different populations. White-faced Sakis are found in Venezuela, Guyana, French Guiana, and Suriname, and in the Brazilian states of Roraima, Amapá and Pará. 

The White-faced Saki, Pithecia pithecia. Marsh (2014).

The Golden-faced Saki, Pithecia chrysocephala, was first described in 1850 by Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire of the Museum d’Histoire Naturelle in Paris, but has been considered to be a subspecies of either Pithecia pithecia or Pithecia monacha for most of the last century. March re-elevates this group to full species level. Golden-faced Sakis resemble White-faced Sakis, but the face plates of the males are deep orange or reddish brown in colour. The Golden-faced Saki is found only in Brazil north of the Amazon.

The Golden-faced Saki, Pithecia chrysocephala. Marsh (2014).

The Hairy Saki, Pithecia hirsuta, was first described in 1823 by Johann Baptist von Spix of the Zoologische Staatssammlung in Munich, with the name remaining in use till today. This species shows little colour variation between the sexes, with both being black with some white stripping and some brown on the chest. The species is found in Brazil, Peru and Columbia between the Río Napoin and Rio Solimões in the south, the Río Caquetá and Rio Japurá in the north and Rio Negro to the east.

The Hairy Saki, Pithecia hirsuta. Marsh (2014).

Miller’s Saki, Pithecia milleri, was first described by Joel Allen of the American Museum of Natural History in 1914, but was reclassified as a subspecies of Pithecia monachus by Hershkovitz in 1987. Marsh re-elevates this taxon to full species status. Miller’s Saki resembles the Hairy Saki, but is more grizzled (greyer). The females are more distinctive in this species, being paler and shaggier than the males. Miller’s Saki is found in southwest Columbia and northeast Ecuador, and may also be present in neighbouring areas of Peru, though it has not been reported there.

Miller’s Saki, Pithecia milleri. Marsh (2014).

The Monk Saki, Pithecia monachus, was first described by Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire in 1812, and has been accepted as a valid species ever since, though several other species have been treated as members of this species at times. Males of this species tend to be black, with a little white stippling, mostly on the forearms and chest, and brown hair on the face. Females are more grizzled than the males, with brown hair only on the forehead. The species is found in eastern Peru and western Brazil.

The Monk Saki, Pithecia monachus. Marsh (2014).

The Burnished Saki, Pithecia inusta, was first described in 1824 by Johann Baptist von Spix, but was thought to be a population of Pithecia monachus by Hershkovitz in 1987. Marsh re-elevates this to full species status. Males are black with lighter stippling, the ruff is brown, with lighter brown hair tips, and can be buff or almost orange in older individuals. The face is an off-white colour. Females are similar to males, but with more white in their coats. 

The Burnished Saki, Pithecia inusta. Marsh (2014).

Cazuza’s Saki, Pithecia cazuzai, is a new species erected by Marsh, to describe three populations formerly assigned to the species Pithecia irrorata (Grey’s Bald Faced Saki). It is named in honour of the Brazilian primatologist José de Sousa e Silva-Júnior, (known as ‘Cazuza’), of the Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi, for his contribution to South American taxonomy. Both sexes are black with white grizzling, the females being darker and less grizzled than the males. The species is known only from Brazil around the Rio Juruá.

Cazuza’s Saki, Pithecia cazuzai. Marsh (2014).

The Equatorial Saki, Pithecia aequatorialis, was first described by Philip Hershkovitz in 1987. The males are black, with grizzled white tips to their hairs, a horseshoe-shaped white band around the face and an orange ruff. Females are greyer and more grizzled, with a less pronounced ruff. The species is found in Peru, south of the Río Napo and Río Curaray and west of the Río Tigre.

The Equatorial Saki, Pithecia aequatorialis. Marsh (2014).

The Napo Saki, Pithecia napensis, was first described by  Einar Lönnberg of the Swedish Museum of Natural History as a subspecies of Pithecia monachus, though Hershkovitz did not accept that this was a valid taxon at all. Marsh re-introduces it, and elevates it to full species. Males are black, with grizzled white tips to their hair, a distinctive whit crown on the head and a white facial disk surrounding the face, fading to grey towards the bottom. The ruff is rusty or even bright orange. Females are greyer, with a brown ruff. The species is found in northeast Ecuador and northern Peru.

The Napo Saki, Pithecia napensis. Marsh (2014).

Isobel’s Saki, Pithecia isabela, is a new species erected by Marsh to describe several populations of Saki Monkeys in northern Peru, formerly assigned to the species Pithecia monachus but now recognized as distinct. Pithecia isabela is named in honour of Isabel Grameson Godin des Odonais, who mounted an expedition into the forests of French Guyana in search of her lost husband in 1768. The males have black coats, often with a coppery sheen, and a dark rusty-orange ruff. The face is black, and surrounded by a ring of light brown hair in younger males, though as they get older it darkens to black. The facial disk is dark, but lighter grizzling which makes it appear grey or even white; there are also white patches above the eyes. Females are similar to males, with a black coat with a coppery sheen, though on females this is heavily grizzled. The hair of the ruff is black with brown tips and the facial disk black. 

Isobel’s Saki, Pithecia isobela. Marsh (2014).

The Buffy Saki, Pithecia albicans, was first described as a species by John Edward Gray of the British Museum of Natural History (now the Natural History Museum) in 1860, and has been recognized as a valid species ever since. This is a very distinctive species, larger than other members of the genus and covered in blond or orange fur, except for the back and tail, which are black. This species is found only in Brazil, between the lower Rio Purus and Rio Tefé and the Rio Solimões-Amazonas in Amazonas State.

The Buffy Saki, Pithecia albicans. Marsh (2014).

Gray’s Bald Faced Saki, Pithecia irrorata, was first described by species by John Edward Gray of the British Museum of Natural History (now the Natural History Museum) in 1842, and has been recognized as a valid species ever since. These Sakis are black with heavily grizzling that makes them appear grey or even whitish all over. The males have a white band or crown above the face, which is hairless and pink. This species is known from Peru and Brazil, though the known populations are somewhat scattered, and its full distribution is probably not known.

Gray’s Bald Faced Saki, Pithica irrorata. Marsh (2014).

Vanzolini’s Bald Faced Saki, Pithecia vanzolinii, was first described by Philip Hershkovitz in 1987. These are black or dark grey on their backs and tails, with cream or yellowish bellies and limbs. The males have a thicker coat than the females. This species is known only from southwest Brazil.

Vanzolini’s Bald Faced Saki, Pithica vanzolinii. Marsh (2014).

Mittermeier’s Tapajós Saki, Pithecia mittermeieri, is a new species named by Marsh in honour of Russell Mittermeier, President of Conservation International and long-time Chairman of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature Species Survival Commission’s Primate Specialist Group. The species comprises populations found south of the Rio Amazonas between the Rio Madeira and Rio Tapajós in Brazil, which were formerly assigned to Pithecia irrorata. These have black coats, but heavily grizzled with white hair, making them appear almost white, males have black faces and both sexes tend to get darker as they get older.

Mittermeier’s Tapajós Saki, Pithecia mittermeieri. Marsh (2014).

Ryland’s Bald-faced Saki, Pithecia rylandsi, is a new species named by Marsh in honour of Anthony Rylands, Senior Research Scientist at Conservation International, Deputy Chair of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature Species Survival Commission’s Primate Specialist Group, a member of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences, former professor of Vertebrate Zoology at the Federal University of Minas Gerais, and founding editor for the journal Neotropical Primates. The species comprises populations of Sakis from southern Peru, northwest Bolivia and southwest Brazil, which have formerly been assigned to several other species. These have black coats heavily grizzled with white, but turn completely white as they age. The faces are black in both sexes.

Ryland’s Bald-faced Saki, Pithecia rylandsi. Marsh (2014).

Pissinatti’s Bald-faced Saki, Pithecia pissinattii, is a new species named by Marsh in honour of Alcides Pissinatti, a Brazilian veterinarian, director and co-founder of the Centro de Primatologia do Rio de Janeiro as well as Vice President of the Brazilian Academy of Veterinary Sciences, for his work on captive breeding programs of Saki Monkeys. The species comprises populations in Brazil previously assigned to Pithecia irrorata and Pithecia hirsuta. These are very grizzled Sakis with bare faces, the males become brownish with age.

 

Pissinatti’s Bald-faced Saki, Pithecia pissinattii. Marsh (2014).

The approximate distributions of the Saki Monkeys, Pithecia, following the classification proposed. Stephen Nash in Marsh (2014).

See also…

 The origin and diversification of Bushbabies.

Bushbabies (Galagidae) are African nocturnal Primates related to Lorises (Lorisidae). Like the Lorises they are solitary nocturnal foragers living in the tree canopy, but while Lorises are slow...



 A fossil Ape from the Late Miocene of Yunnan Province China.

Apes (Hominoidea) are large, tailless Primates found in Africa, eastern Asia, and in one case (Homo sapiens) globally. Apes are commonly divided into Lesser and...


 Burmese Snub-nosed Monkey found in China.

The discovery of the Burmese Snub-nosed Monkey, Rhinopithecus strykeri, was announced in January...

Follow Sciency Thoughts on Facebook.

A new species of Tapir from South America.

Tapirs are forest dwelling Perissodactyls (even-toed ungulates, the group of Mammals that also includes Horses and Rhinos) currently found in India, South and Central America. They are thought to have originated in North America, and subsequently dispersed across Eurasia; both areas having large numbers of fossil taxa but no living species. Tapirs reached South America during the Great American Faunal Interchange, which followed the closure of the Panama Seaway, and subsequently survived the end-Pleistocene extinction in South America, where they were the largest terrestrial Mammals to do so. All Tapir species are currently classed as either Vulnerable or Endangered under the Terms of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature’s Red List of Threatened Species.

In a paper published in the Journal of Mammalogy in December 2013, a team of scientists led by Mario Cozzuol of the Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais describe a new species of Tapir from South America. This is the first new species of living Perissodactyl described for over a century, and the first new living Tapir species since 1865.

The new species is named Tapirus kabomani, which derives from ‘Arabo kabomani’ a name for Tapir in the Paumarí language, which is indigenous to the area where the first specimens were collected. Tapirus kabomani is distinct from all other Tapir species both physically and genetically, and is notably smaller and shorter than any other living Tapir or fossil South American Tapir.

Camera-trap photos of 2 specimens of Tapirus kabomani in southern Amazonas State from Brazil. Lateral view of the head and anterior body of a male (right) and female (left) specimens. Cozzuol et al. (2013).

Tapirus kabomani was found in Amazonas, Rondônia, and Mato Grosso states in Brazil and in Amazonas Department in Columbia; it is also thought to live along the Guiana Shield, in southern French Guiana and Amapá State in Brazil. This gives it a range that overlaps that of the previously described Tapirus terrestris, the first time two living species of Tapir have been shown to have overlapping ranges.

The species is described from ten specimens, the oldest of which was collected by Theodore Roosevelt in 1912. Roosevelt was apparently informed by local hunters that his specimen was a different kind of Tapir, and returned it to the United States for analysis, only to have is rejected as a local variation of Tapirus terrestris. 

See also…

 A tandem-horned Elasmothere Rhinoceros from the Late Miocene of Gansu Province, northwest China.

Rhinoceroses are iconic members of the modern Mammalian megafauna, distinguished by their large bulk, thick hides and horns. There are five modern species of Rhinoceros from Africa and Asia...

 Fossil Tapirs from the Pleistocene of Venezuala.

Tapirs are large tropical, forest dwelling, herbivorous mammals related to Horses and Rhinoceroses. They have an unusual distribution, being found in South and Central America, as well as...

 Rhinoceros teeth from the Early Miocene of Gansu Province, China.

Rhinoceroses are iconic members of the modern Mammalian megafauna, distinguished by their large bulk, thick hides and horns. There are five modern species of Rhinoceros from Africa and Asia, three of which are considered to be Critically Endangered under...

Follow Sciency Thoughts on Facebook.

A new species of Caecilian from French Guiana.

Caecilians (Gymnophiona) are a group of Amphibians only distantly related to Frogs and Salamanders. They have lost all limbs, and live a burrowing lifestyle in moist tropical forests. Caecilians have banded scales around their bodies and many species lack external eyes, making them superficially resemble Annelid Worms (Earthworms), though they are true Vertebrates with visible jawbones, which all Worms lack.

In a paper published in the journal PLoS One on 6 March 2013, Mark Wilkinson of the Department of Zoology at The Natural History Museum in London, Emma Sherratt also of the Department of Zoology at The Natural History Museum in London and the Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology and Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard University, Fausto Starace of Saint Laurent du Maroni in French Guiana and David Gower, also of the Department of Zoology at The Natural History Museum in London, describe a new species of Caecilian from French Guiana.

The new species is placed in the genus Microcaecilia, which already contains eight species, all native to South America. These are small Caecilians with closed skulls and eyes covered over by a layer of bone, which is thought to be an adaptation to burrowing, although it is unclear if the level of bone growth seen is necessary for the digging style employed by the animals (which used the head to shovel aside sediment); on the whole the ecology of these animals is poorly known.

It is named Microcaecilia dermatophaga, meaning ‘skin-eater’ a reference to its reproductive behaviour. One of the specimens studied during the discovery of this species produced a string of five eggs, and a few days later was discovered to have two young, which fed by consuming lipid-rich skin from around the mid-section of the mother’s body. 

Reproductive mode of Microcaecilia dermatophaga. Presumed mother with a connected string of five eggs (top) and with two hatchlings during the period of extended post-hatching parental care and maternal dermatophagy (bottom). Wilkinson et al. (2013).

This mode of juvenile feeding has been observed twice before in Caecilians, firstly in the African species Boulengerula taitanus, and secondly in the South American Siphonops annulatus. These two species are only very distantly related (it is thought that their most recent common ancestor lived over 100 million years ago), and it is therefore thought that the trait is likely to be widely found in Caecilians, a theory which the discovery of such behaviour in Microcaecilia dermatophaga supports.

Microcaecilia dermatophaga is a small Caecilian, the largest specimen discovered reaching 183 mm in length. It is somewhat flattened, and the head is more ‘U’-shaped than ‘V’-shaped when seen in dorsal view. Its teeth are pointed and curved backwards, lacking blades or serrations. The juveniles lacked pigmentation and were pinkish, the adults a darker lilac colour. The smallest free living specimens found in the study were 75-84 mm in length, a size achieved by the hatchlings in 26 days, when they also showed an ability to burrow for themselves and a willingness to take Invertebrate prey. Based upon this Wilkinson et al. conclude that reproduction may begin as early as March or April (the hatchlings in the study were produced in July), and that sexual maturity is reached in about a year.

Adult specimen of Microcaecilia dermatophaga. Wilkinson et al. (2013).

One of the specimens discovered during the study was found within a rotten log, alongside large numbers of Termites, and subsequently fed happily on Termites in captivity. Other specimens consumed Crickets and Earthworms when these were offered, suggesting the species will take a variety of prey. Pieces of what appear to be termite jaws were found embedded in the heads of several specimens, suggesting that this may be a common food item for the species, and also that the extensive bone development in the head of all members of the genus Microcaecilia may be an adaptation enabling feeding on aggressive Termites and Ants, rather than for digging.

Typical environment for Microcaecilia dermatophaga. Forest close to the Mana River (at Angoulême, French Guiana). Wilkinson et al. (2013).

See also…

 New Amphibians from Northeast India.

Caecilians are limbless burrowing Amphibians found in tropical regions of Asia, Africa and South America. They resemble Earthworms, with circular folds on their skin which make them look...

Follow Sciency Thoughts on Facebook.