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Phylum: Onychophora (Velvet Worms)

"Onychophorans, commonly known as velvet worms, possess a soft, elongated body covered by a lightly sclerotised cuticle, multiple locomotor limbs, and a pair of anterior slime papillae that expel a sticky slime used to immobilise their prey. Members of the phylum Onychophora are found in tropical and subtropical regions around the world, with about 230 described species divided into two families: Peripatidae, with a pantropical distribution (Neotropics, Antilles, west Africa, and southeast Asia), and Peripatopsidae, with a circum-Antarctic distribution (Chile, South Africa, New Guinea, Australia, and New Zealand)"

Source: Montalvo-Salazar, Jorge L. et al. (2024). A new species of velvet worm of the genus Oroperipatus (Onychophora, Peripatidae) from western Amazonia. Zoosystematics and Evolution 100(3): 779-789. https://doi.org/10.3897/zse.100.117952

 


 

Class: Udeonycophora

Order: Euonycophora

Family: Peripatidae

Scientific Name Author/s Common Name Last Record Distribution Status Taxon Profile
Epiperipatus isthmicola (Bouvier, 1902) - (rediscovered) Costa Rica Rediscovered Access
             
Oroperipatus eisenii (Wheeler, 1898) - (rediscovered) Mexico Rediscovered Access
             
Plicatoperipatus jamaicensis (Grabham & Cockerell, 1892) - (rediscovered) Jamaica Rediscovered Access
             

Typhloperipatus williamsoni

Kemp, 1913 Red velvet worm (rediscovered) Arunachal Pradesh, India Rediscovered Access

 

Family: Peripatopsidae

Scientific Name Author/s Common Name Last Record Distribution Status Taxon Profile

Opisthopatus roseus

Lawrence, 1947 Pink velvet worm - Ngele Forest, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa Uncertain Access
             
Peripatopsis clavigera Purcell, 1899 Knysna velvet worm - South Africa Uncertain Access
             
Peripatopsis leonina Purcell, 1899 Lion's Hill velvet worm 1900 or 1904 or 1912 Lion's Hill, Western Cape Province, South Africa Missing or Extinct Access

 

Statistics

Conservation status Number of taxa (in percentage)
   
Extinct 0
Missing 0
Extinct in the Wild 0
Possibly Extinct in the Wild 0
Globally Rediscovered 4 (57.15%)
Rediscovered in the Wild 0
Reintroduced 0
Hypothetical 0
Invalid 0
Erroneously listed 0
Uncertain status 3 (42.85%)
   
Total 7

 

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