Peripatidae is a family of velvet worms.[1] The oldest putative representatives of the family herald from Burmese amber dated to the mid-Cretaceous, around 100 million years ago, with representatives from Dominican and Baltic amber attesting to a broader distribution in the Palaeogene / Neogene; molecular variability suggests that the family's crown group may have arisen in the early Mesozoic.[2]
Description
The Peripatidae exhibit a range of derivative features. They are longer, on average, than the Peripatopsidae and also have more leg pairs. The number of legs in the Peripatidae varies within species as well as among species[3] and ranges from 19 pairs (in Typhloperipatus williamsoni[4]) to 43 pairs (in Plicatoperipatus jamaicensis[5]).[6][7] The gonopore is always between the penultimate leg pair.[6] There are no known oviparous species—the overwhelming majority, including all the neotropical Peripatidae, are viviparous with females that develop a placenta to provide the growing embryo with nutrients.[8] The Asian genera Typhloperipatus and Eoperipatus, however, exhibit lecithotrophic ovoviviparity; that is, their females do not develop any placenta and instead retain yolky eggs in their uteri to supply nourishment.[8]
Distribution
The Peripatidae, also known as equatorial velvet worms,[9] are restricted to the tropical and subtropical zones; in particular, they inhabit Central America, the Caribbean, northern South America, Gabon, Northeast India, and Southeast Asia.[10]
Taxonomy
Neopatida
Neopatida is a monophyletic lineage within the Peripatidae, comprising all peripatids except the few found outside of the Americas.[11] The excluded peripatid genera are the southeast Asian †Cretoperipatus and Eoperipatus, the African Mesoperipatus, and the northeast Indian Typhloperipatus.
Genera
The family consists of the following genera:
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Cerradopatus Oliveira et al., 2015
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Epiperipatus Clark, 1913
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Heteroperipatus Zilch, 1954
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Macroperipatus Clark, 1913
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Mongeperipatus Barquero-González et al., 2020[12]
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Oroperipatus Cockerell, 1908
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Peripatus Guilding, 1826
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Plicatoperipatus (Grabham & Cockerell, 1892)
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Principapillatus Oliveira et al., 2013
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Speleoperipatus Peck, 1975
References
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^ Oliveira, I.; Hering, L. & Mayer, G. "Updated Onychophora checklist". Onychophora Website. Retrieved 24 November 2016.
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^ Murienne, J.; Daniels, S. R.; Buckley, T. R.; Mayer, G.; Giribet, G. (2013). "A living fossil tale of Pangaean biogeography". Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 281 (1775): 20132648. doi:10.1098/rspb.2013.2648. PMC 3866409. PMID 24285200.
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^ Monge-Nájera, Julián (1994). "Reproductive trends, habitat type and body characteristcs in velvet worms (Onychophora)". Revista de Biología Tropical: 611–622. ISSN 2215-2075.
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^ Kemp, Stanley (1914). "Onychophora". Records of the Indian Museum. 8: 471–492. doi:10.5962/bhl.part.1194. S2CID 88237018 – via Biodiversity Heritage Library.
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^ Yang, Jie; Ortega-Hernández, Javier; Gerber, Sylvain; Butterfield, Nicholas J.; Hou, Jin-bo; Lan, Tian; Zhang, Xi-guang (2015-07-14). "A superarmored lobopodian from the Cambrian of China and early disparity in the evolution of Onychophora". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 112 (28): 8678–8683. Bibcode:2015PNAS..112.8678Y. doi:10.1073/pnas.1505596112. ISSN 0027-8424. PMC 4507230. PMID 26124122 – via ResearchGate.
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^ a b Giribet, Gonzalo; Edgecombe, Gregory D. (2020-03-03). 30. Onychophora. Princeton University Press. doi:10.1515/9780691197067-032. ISBN 978-0-691-19706-7. S2CID 240645062.
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^ Mayer, Georg (2007-04-05). "Metaperipatus inae sp. nov. (Onychophora: Peripatopsidae) from Chile with a novel ovarian type and dermal insemination". Zootaxa. 1440 (1): 21–37. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.1440.1.2. ISSN 1175-5334 – via ResearchGate.
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^ a b Mayer, Georg; Franke, Franziska Anni; Treffkorn, Sandra; Gross, Vladimir; de Sena Oliveira, Ivo (2015), Wanninger, Andreas (ed.), "Onychophora", Evolutionary Developmental Biology of Invertebrates 3: Ecdysozoa I: Non-Tetraconata, Vienna: Springer, pp. 53–98, doi:10.1007/978-3-7091-1865-8_4, ISBN 978-3-7091-1865-8, retrieved 2023-02-15
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^ "Equatorial Velvet Worms (Family Peripatidae)". iNaturalist. Retrieved 2023-03-07.
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^ Oliveira, I. S.; Read, V. M. S. J.; Mayer, G. (2012). "A world checklist of Onychophora (velvet worms), with notes on nomenclature and status of names". ZooKeys (211): 1–70. doi:10.3897/zookeys.211.3463. PMC 3426840. PMID 22930648.
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^ Costa, Cristiano Sampaio; Giribet, Gonzalo (2021-05-25). "Panamanian velvet worms in the genus Epiperipatus, with notes on their taxonomy and distribution and the description of a new species (Onychophora, Peripatidae)". Invertebrate Biology. 140 (3). doi:10.1111/ivb.12336. ISSN 1077-8306. S2CID 236359517.
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^ Barquero-González, Sánchez-Vargas, Morera (2020). "A new giant velvet worm from Costa Rica suggests absence of the genus Peripatus (Onychophora: Peripatidae) in Central America". Revista de Biología Tropical. 68: 300–320. doi:10.15517/rbt.v68i1.37675. S2CID 212697088.
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Media related to Peripatidae at Wikimedia Commons
Data related to Peripatidae at Wikispecies