Peripatidae
Family of invertebrate animals
- 2 min read
- 3 chapters
Related on Lably
Through Tropics, South America and Americas
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 and ranges from 19 pairs (in Typhloperipatus williamsoni and Speleoperipatus spelaeus) to 43 pairs (in Plicatoperipatus jamaicensis). The gonopore is always between the penultimate leg pair. 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. 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.
Sign in to keep reading
2 more chapters are free with a Lably account.
Distribution and habitat
The Peripatidae, also known as equatorial velvet worms, 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.
Classification
Phylogeny
Below is a combined genus-level phylogeny of both extant and extinct peripatid velvet worms.
Neopatida
Neopatida is a monophyletic lineage within the Peripatidae, comprising all peripatids except the few found outside of the Americas. As seen above, many genera in Neopatida are paraphyletic or even polyphyletic.
Genera
The family consists of the following genera:
- Cerradopatus Oliveira et al., 2015
- † Cretoperipatus Engel & Grimaldi, 2002
- Eoperipatus Evans, 1901
- Epiperipatus Clark, 1913
- Heteroperipatus Zilch, 1954
- Macroperipatus Clark, 1913
- Mesoperipatus Evans, 1901
- Mongeperipatus Barquero-González et al., 2020
- Oroperipatus Cockerell, 1908
- Peripatus Guilding, 1826
- Plicatoperipatus Clark, 1913
- Principapillatus Oliveira et al., 2013
- Speleoperipatus Peck, 1975
- Typhloperipatus Kemp, 1913