User:Yummifruitbat/Velvet worm
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The velvet worms (Onychophora - literally "claw bearers") form a branch of the group Ecdysozoa and can be simply described as "worms with legs". Most common in the Southern Hemisphere, they prey on smaller animals such as insects, which they catch by squirting a sticky slime. In modern zoology they are particularly renowned for their curious mating behaviour and the fact that they bear live young. The Lobopoda, possible ancestors of velvet worms from the Cambrian period, are of great interest in paleontology.
Onychophora Temporal range: Cambrian - Recent | |
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Velvet worm | |
Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | |
Phylum: | Onychophora Grube, 1853 |
Extant families | |
Global range of Onychophora: Peripatidae in green, Peripatopsidae in blue |
Velvet worms are very probably close relatives of the Arthropoda and Tardigrada, with which they form the taxon Panarthropoda. The first type was scientifically described in 1825 by Lansdown Guilding, who regarded them to be modified snails (Gastropods); the name Onychophora was not coined until 1853.