Peripatopsis capensis explained

Peripatopsis capensis is a species of velvet worm in the Peripatopsidae family.^[1] This species has 18 pairs of legs: 17 pregenital leg pairs with claws plus one strongly reduced last pair without claws or spinous pads.^{[2] [3]} Females of this species range from 9 mm to 70 mm in length, whereas males range from 6 mm to 54 mm.^[4] The native range of this species is limited to the Cape Peninsula of South Africa.^[5]

Introduced distribution

Outside of its native range in South Africa, this species has also been found on Santa Cruz Island in the Galapagos Islands, thought to be an accidental human-mediated introduction. Santa Cruz Island also has one or more native species of velvet worms in the family Peripatidae.^[6]

Further reading

• Camatini. M.. Franci. E.. Saita. A.. Ultrastructural investigation of spermiogenesis in Peripatopsis-capensis (Onychophora). Journal of Morphology. 1979. 159. 1. 29–47. 10.1002/jmor.1051590104. 30213150. 52269962.
• McDonald. D. E.. Daniels. S. R.. Phylogeography of the Cape velvet worm (Onychophora: Peripatopsis capensis) reveals the impact of Pliocene/Pleistocene climatic oscillations on Afromontane forest in the Western Cape, South Africa. Journal of Evolutionary Biology. 2012. 25. 5. 824–835. 10.1111/j.1420-9101.2012.02482.x. 22409213. free.

Notes and References

1. Web site: Oliveira, I. S.. Hering, L.. Mayer, G.. amp. Updated Onychophora checklist. Onychophora Website. 24 November 2016.
2. McDonald . Dane E. . Ruhberg . Hilke . Daniels . Savel R. . 2012-07-05 . Two new Peripatopsis species (Onychophora: Peripatopsidae) from the Western Cape province, South Africa . Zootaxa . 3380 . 1 . 55–68 . 10.11646/zootaxa.3380.1.4 . 1175-5334 . ResearchGate.
3. Purcell . W.F. . 1899 . On the South African species of Peripatidae in the collection of the South African Museum . Annals of the South African Museum . 1 . 331–351 . Biodiversity Heritage Library.
4. Monge-Nájera . Julián . 1994 . Reproductive trends, habitat type and body characteristcs in velvet worms (Onychophora) . Revista de Biología Tropical . 42 . 3 . en . 611–622 . 2215-2075.
5. Oliveira. I. S.. Read. V. M. S. J.. Mayer. G.. A world checklist of Onychophora (velvet worms), with notes on nomenclature and status of names. ZooKeys. 2012. 211. 1–70. 10.3897/zookeys.211.3463. 22930648. 3426840. free. 2012ZooK..211....1O .
6. Espinasa. Luis. Garvey. Radha. Espinasa. Jordi. Fratto. Christina. Taylor. Steven. Toulkeridis. Theofilos. Addison. Aaron. 2015-01-21. Cave dwelling Onychophora from a Lava Tube in the Galapagos. Subterranean Biology. 15. 1–10. 10.3897/subtbiol.15.8468. free.