A new species of caecilian, a legless amphibian that lives underground, has been described in Rio de Janeiro and named Siphonops maria. The name honours Maria, one of 11 enslaved people who between 1861 and 1874 planted more than 100,000 trees in Tijuca Forest.
It is also a tribute to Brazilian women: Maria is the country’s most popular name, shared by more than 12 million people.
The description was published in the Zoological Journal by Adriano Oliveira Maciel of the Goeldi Museum and Luís Felipe Toledo of Unicamp.
