Taxonomic notes: This is a poorly circumscribed species in need of taxonomic review (M. Wilkinson pers. comm.).

This species ranges from eastern Panama, through the Pacific lowlands of Colombia to northwestern Ecuador. A record from "Central Brasil" is erroneous, and the specimen with this locality data is probably from a locality on the Pacific drainage of Colombia. It is apparently a low-altitude species.

It appears to be a rarely encountered species.

It is a subterranean species, also occurring within the moist leaf-litter, in humid tropical lowland and foothill forests. It has also been collected in secondary forest, but is not known whether or not it occurs in more open areas. There is no information available on reproduction or breeding habitats.

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Deforestation as a result of expanding agriculture is a potential threat, but there is not enough information to confirm this.

It presumably occurs in several protected areas in Colombia, and is probably present in the Reserva Ecológica Cotacachi-Cayapas in Ecuador. In Panama it has been recorded from Parque Nacional Darien.

• 1.1 Site/area protection
• 2.1 Site/area management

Listed as Least Concern in view of its wide distribution, presumed large population, and because it is unlikely to be declining fast enough to qualify for listing in a more threatened category.

• Coloma, L.A. and Ron, S.R. 2001. Ecuador Megadiverso. Megadiverse Ecuador. Anfibios, Reptiles, Aves, Mamíferos. Amphibians, Reptiles, Birds and Mammals. Museo de Zoología. Centro de Biodiversidad y Ambiente. Departamento de Ciencias Biológicas. Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador, Quito, Ecuador.
• Fletcher-Lazo, G.E. 2002. Taxonomía, distribución e historia natural de los ápodos (Amphibia: Gymnophiona) del Occidente Ecuatoriano. Unpublished thesis. Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador. Tesis de Licenciatura, Quito, Ecuador.
• Gower, D.J. and Wilkinson, M. 2005. Conservation biology of caecilian amphibians. Conservation Biology 19(1): 45-55.
• Ibáñez, R., Solís, F., Jaramillo, C. and Rand, S. 2000. An overwiew of the herpetology of Panama. In: J.D. Johnson, R.G. Webb and O.A. Flores-Villela (eds), Mesoamerican Herpetology: Systematics, Zoogeography and Conservation, pp. 159-170. The University of Texas at El Paso, El Paso, Texas.
• Lynch, J.D. 1999. Una approximacion a las cuebras ciegas de Colombia (Amphibia: Gymnophiona). Revista de la Academia Colombiana de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales: 317-337.
• Morales, M., Ortiz, A., Toral, E. and Regalado, J. 2002. Monitoreo del aprovechamiento forestal con especies indicadoras de herpetofaunaen el Chocó ecuatoriano, Esmeraldas, Ecuador. Componente de monitoreo biológico, Proyecto SUBIR-CARE. Informe Final Fase III, pp. 104-161. EcoCiencia, Quito, Ecuador.
• Savage, J.M. and Wake, M.H. 2001. Reevaluation of the status of taxa of Central American caecilians (Amphibia: Gymnophiona), with comments on their origin and evolution. Copeia: 52-64.
• Taylor, E.H. 1968. The Caecilians of the World. A Taxonomic Review. University of Kansas Press, Lawrence, Kansas.
• Taylor, E.H. 1973. A caecilian miscellany. University of Kansas Science Bulletin: 187-231.
• Young, B., Sedaghatkish, G., Roca, E. and Fuenmayor, Q. 1999. El Estatus de la Conservación de la Herpetofauna de Panamá: Resumen del Primer Taller Internacional sobre la Herpetofauna de Panamá. The Nature Conservancy, Arlington, Virginia.