ABSTRACT
The female reproductive system in Gymnophiona is composed of a pair of ovaries accompanied by fat bodies, a pair of oviducts, and a cloaca. The first anatomical description of the reproductive system in female Gymno phiona was provided by Muller (1832) and Rathke (1852). Fertilization is always internal, and species are oviparous or viviparous. Scolecomorphidae and Typhlonectidae are two viviparous families (Wake, 1993), but only very few species have been studied thoroughly. About half of the gymnophionan species are viviparous (Wake, 1977b, 1989,1992,1993), but this number is discussed (Wilkinson and Nussbaum, 1998). Studies on reproduction in Gymnophiona give some evidence for the evolution from oviparity to viviparity. Several intermediate solutions, as direct develop ment, were described in Idiocranium russeli (Sanderson, 1937), Hypogeophis rostratus (Nussbaum, 1984) and in Boulengerula taitanus (Malonza and Measey, 2005).
