Type locality: "Dhyütere (25.91528 N, 94.10528 E; 782 m asl), New Sendenyu village, Tseminyu subdivision, Kohima district, Nagaland, India".
Chikila alcocki, known as Alcock’s chikila, is one of four species of caecilian in the most recently recognized (tenth) family of caecilians, the Chikilidae, which is endemic to Northeast India.The family was described by Kamei et al. (2013) after DNA analysis of an extensive sampling of caecilian specimens from northeastern India revealed a clear clade containing Herpele fulleri (described by Alcock in 1904, subsequently re-diagnosed in 2013 as Chikila fulleri) and three other distinct species: Chikila darlong, C. gaiduwani, and C. alcocki (Kamei et al. 2012, 2013).Chikilidae is more closely related to the African caecilian family Herpelidae than it is to either of the other caecilians families found in India (Ichthyophiidae and Indotyphalidae), suggesting that the family originated in Africa (Kamei et al. 2013; San Mauro et al. 2014).Chikila species are presumed to occur in neighboring Myanmar and Bangladesh (Frost 2014).
