Uraeotyphlus gansi is a rare limbless species

Species

In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...

 of caecilian

Caecilian

The caecilians are an order of amphibians that superficially resemble earthworms or snakes. They mostly live hidden in the ground, making them the least familiar order of amphibians. All extant caecilians and their closest fossil relatives are grouped as the clade Apoda. They are mostly...

, endemic to the Western Ghats

Western Ghats

The Western Ghats, Western Ghauts or the Sahyādri is a mountain range along the western side of India. It runs north to south along the western edge of the Deccan Plateau, and separates the plateau from a narrow coastal plain along the Arabian Sea. The Western Ghats block rainfall to the Deccan...

 of India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

. It was discovered in the Kaakkaachi-Naalumukku area of the Kalakkad Mundanthurai Tiger Reserve

Kalakkad Mundanthurai Tiger Reserve

Kalakkad Mundanthurai Tiger Reserve , situated in the Southern Western Ghats in Tirunelveli district, in the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu, is the second largest protected area in Tamil Nadu State.-History:...

 in the Western Ghats. Uraeotyphlus gansi was named after Carl Gans, a renowned herpetologist from Texas

Texas

Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...

.

According to Albert Rajendran, Reader, Research Department of Zoology

Zoology

Zoology |zoölogy]]), is the branch of biology that relates to the animal kingdom, including the structure, embryology, evolution, classification, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinct...

, St. John’s College, Palayamkottai, spotted the species, along with his collaborator David J. Gower

David J. Gower

David J. Gower is a palaeontologist.Since 2004 he is a herpetology researcher at the Museum of Natural History in London.-External links:* *...

 of the Natural History Museum

Natural History Museum

The Natural History Museum is one of three large museums on Exhibition Road, South Kensington, London, England . Its main frontage is on Cromwell Road...

, London, and two other experts in Caecilians. He came across these limbless amphibians in the Kaakkaachi-Naalumukku areas with precise locality during his study of the burrowing Uropeltid (shield-tailed) snakes of the Western Ghats.