Jorgeatte Eleanor B. Rostata Abraham S.

Cera

 Greek

onyx claw + phora bearing common name: Velvet Worms or Walking Worms 200 species described diverged prior to the break-up of Gondwana regarded as "living fossils a key role in understanding the evolution of arthropods

1. Bilaterally symmetrical and vermiform 2. Body has more than two cell layers, tissues and organs 3. Body cavity a true coelom 4. Most possesses a through straight gut with an anus 5. Body possesses 14 to 43 pairs of unjointed legs

6. Nervous system includes a brain and a pair of ventral nerve chords 7. Possesses serial sac-like excretory organs 8. Possesses a simple respiratory system in the form of tracheae and spiracles 9. Possesses a open circulatory system with a heart 10. Reproduction normally sexual and gonochoristic 11. All are terrestrial

1. jaw-forming appendages 2. oral papillae 3. slime glands discharge glue from oral papillae 4. the unsegmented, stumpy legs with arthropodlike claws

 Ancient

animals Normally nocturnal Carnivorous animals Found in damp, moist habitats: tropical and temperate forests of the southern hemisphere and at the equator

 "shooting"

behaviour with a glue-like slime a pair of claws range in length from 1.5 to 15 centimetres often colourful: various shades of grey, brown, orange, red, green and even blue but has at least one white cavenicolous (cave dwelling) species Segmentation not apparent With mandibles No compound eye

 Peripatopsidae

- blue, grey, green, or sometimes brown - colors persist in preservative - trunk has 13-25 pairs of legs - gonopore is between the last pair of legs Peripatidae - usually reddish brown but the color is water-soluble and fades in preservative - trunk has 22-43 pairs of legs - gonopore is between the penultimate pair of legs

 slow

and gradual motion exhibit photonegative behavior

- carnivorous, and feed primarily on arthropods - capture their prey by entangling it in threads of clear, sticky slime that is ejected from the oral tubes on either side of the head

A. An onychophoran capturing a cricket in a squirt of sticky slime. B. An immobilized cricket with slime threads sticking to its cuticle. C. An onychophoran feeding on a cricket.

 Gonochoristic
Female

onychophorans are attracted to males by pheromonal secretions extruded from the males crural glands. Most velvet worms give birth to live young. The young either develop internally, being nourished via a placenta-like organ, or develop in eggs that hatch inside the female. Other species lay eggs which hatch outside of the female.

 In

some species, the males deposit packets of sperm (spermatophores) directly into the genital opening of the female, but in other species the spermatophores are placed somewhere on the body of the female. The skin tissue then collapses where the spermatophores are deposited, and the sperm migrate into the females body, where they penetrate the ovaries to fertilize the eggs, or are stored for future use in paired sperm receptacles

body organs being contained within a haemocoel which is filled with blood Open Circulation kept in constant movement by the beating of a hollow tube like heart, but there are no veins or arteries

well developed and lies dorsal to (above) the pharynx linked to the rest of the body by a pair of ventral nerve cords and a series of crossconnecting nerves in each body segment central nervous system is ladder-like

 tracheal

system for gaseous exchange: a series of small pipes or tubs that lead from spiracles on the animals cuticle to various parts of the animals interior allows air from the outside to reach all the body's organs spiracles cannot be closed which means they cause the animal to lose moisture rapidly in dry conditions

- consists of segmentally arranged pairs of saccate nephridia similar to those of arthropods.

- have a well developed brain which lies dorsal to the pharynx - linked to the rest of the body by a pair of ventral nerve cords and a series of crossconnecting nerves in each body segment.

 The

two highest ranking taxa of Onychophora display a distinct pattern of distribution. The Peripatidae are restricted to the Neotropics, the Antilles, West Africa and areas of South-East Asia including Borneo, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia. The Peripatopsidae show a classic Gondwanan distribution and are present in Australia, New Guinea, Chile, South Africa and New Zealand.

Metaperipatus blainvillei (Chile, Region de la Araucania)

Peripatopsis sedgwicki (South Africa)

Epiperipatus biolleyi (Costa Rica)

Peripatopsis balfouri (South Africa)

Peripatopsis capensis (South Africa)

Metaperipatus inae (Chile, Region del Biobio)

Tasmanipatus anophthalmus (Australia, Tasmania)

Epiperipatus cf. isthmicola (Costa Rica)

Ooperipatellus nanus (New Zealand)

Peripatoides sp. (New Zealand)

Ooperipatellus cryptus (Australia, Tasmania)

Euperipatoides rowelli [black form] (Australia, New South Wales)

Ooperipatellus hispidus (Australia, New South Wales)

Phallocephale tallagandensis (Australia, New South Wales)

Ooperipatellus insignis (Australia, Victoria)

Tasmanipatus barretti (Australia, Tasmania)