THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS SCIENCE BULLETIN Vol. 51, No. 8, pp. 261-282 December 23, 1977 The Comparative Anatomy of Caecilian Mandibles and Their Teeth Edward H. Taylor TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract 261 Introduction 261 Materials and Methods 262 Observations 262 Descriptions 262 Literature Cited 264 Figures 266-281 ABSTRACT The dentary and splenial teeth on the mandibles were counted for 23 species of caeciUans in 14 genera and 5 famiUes. The genera Scolecomorphus , Caudacaecilia, Dermophis and Sipho-nops lack splenial teeth. However, lack of splenial teeth is a trait of the species for some caecilians in genera where other species have them and is therefore not a generic nor familial trait. The number of teeth on the mandible and their sizes are potentially useful in taxonomic identification of species. INTRODUCTION The teeth of caecilians were discussed Persian artist Mr. Habib Kamrani, that at some length in my monograph on cae-appear in the monograph do not have cilians of the world (Taylor, 1968). The photographic accuracy, but do present gen-figures of the buccal region, drawn by the eral relationships of the dental series to
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