Peripatidae is a family of velvet worms. This family includes more than 90 described species distributed among 13 genera, but some authorities deem only 80 of these species to be valid. The oldest putative representatives of the family herald from

Burmese amber Burmese amber, also known as Burmite or Kachin amber, is amber from the Hukawng Valley in northern Myanmar. The amber is dated to around 100 million years ago, during the latest Albian to earliest Cenomanian ages of the mid-Cretaceous period. Th ...

dated to the mid-

Cretaceous The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 143.1 to 66 mya (unit), million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era (geology), Era, as well as the longest. At around 77.1 million years, it is the ...

, around 100 million years ago, with representatives from

Dominica Dominica, officially the Commonwealth of Dominica, is an island country in the Caribbean. It is part of the Windward Islands chain in the Lesser Antilles archipelago in the Caribbean Sea. The capital, Roseau, is located on the western side of t ...

n and

Baltic amber Baltic amber or succinite is amber from the Baltic region, home of its largest known deposits. It was produced sometime during the Eocene epoch, but exactly when is controversial. It has been estimated that this forested region provided the re ...

attesting to a broader distribution in the Palaeogene /

Neogene The Neogene ( ,) is a geologic period and system that spans 20.45 million years from the end of the Paleogene Period million years ago ( Mya) to the beginning of the present Quaternary Period million years ago. It is the second period of th ...

; molecular variability suggests that the family's crown group may have arisen in the early

Mesozoic The Mesozoic Era is the Era (geology), era of Earth's Geologic time scale, geological history, lasting from about , comprising the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous Period (geology), Periods. It is characterized by the dominance of archosaurian r ...

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'') to 43 pairs (in '' Plicatoperipatus jamaicensis''). The

gonopore A gonopore, sometimes called a gonadopore, is a genital pore in many invertebrates. Hexapods, including insects, have a single common gonopore, except mayflies, which have a pair of gonopores. More specifically, in the unmodified female, it is ...

is always between the penultimate leg pair. There are no known

oviparous Oviparous animals are animals that reproduce by depositing fertilized zygotes outside the body (i.e., by laying or spawning) in metabolically independent incubation organs known as eggs, which nurture the embryo into moving offsprings kno ...

species—the overwhelming majority, including all the

Neotropical The Neotropical realm is one of the eight biogeographic realms constituting Earth's land surface. Physically, it includes the tropical terrestrial ecoregions of the Americas and the entire South American temperate zone. Definition In biogeogra ...

Peripatidae, are

viviparous In animals, viviparity is development of the embryo inside the body of the mother, with the maternal circulation providing for the metabolic needs of the embryo's development, until the mother gives birth to a fully or partially developed juve ...

with females that develop a placenta to provide the growing embryo with nutrients. The Asian genera '' Typhloperipatus'' and '' Eoperipatus'', however, exhibit lecithotrophic

ovoviviparity Ovoviviparity, ovovivipary, ovivipary, or aplacental viviparity is a "bridging" form of reproduction between egg-laying oviparous and live-bearing viviparous reproduction. Ovoviviparous animals possess embryos that develop inside eggs that r ...

; that is, their females do not develop any placenta and instead retain yolky eggs in their uteri to supply nourishment.

Distribution

The Peripatidae, also known as equatorial velvet worms, are restricted to the

tropical The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the equator, where the sun may shine directly overhead. This contrasts with the temperate or polar regions of Earth, where the Sun can never be directly overhead. This is because of Earth's ax ...

and

subtropical The subtropical zones or subtropics are geographical zone, geographical and Köppen climate classification, climate zones immediately to the Northern Hemisphere, north and Southern Hemisphere, south of the tropics. Geographically part of the Ge ...

zones; in particular, they inhabit

Central America Central America is a subregion of North America. Its political boundaries are defined as bordering Mexico to the north, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest. Central America is usually ...

, the

Caribbean The Caribbean ( , ; ; ; ) is a region in the middle of the Americas centered around the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, mostly overlapping with the West Indies. Bordered by North America to the north, Central America ...

, northern

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

Gabon Gabon ( ; ), officially the Gabonese Republic (), is a country on the Atlantic coast of Central Africa, on the equator, bordered by Equatorial Guinea to the northwest, Cameroon to the north, the Republic of the Congo to the east and south, and ...

Northeast India Northeast India, officially the North Eastern Region (NER), is the easternmost region of India representing both a geographic and political Administrative divisions of India, administrative division of the country. It comprises eight States and ...

, and

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, southeastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of China, east of the Indian subcontinent, and northwest of the Mainland Au ...

Taxonomy

Neopatida

Neopatida is a monophyletic lineage within the Peripatidae, comprising all peripatids except the few found outside of the

Americas The Americas, sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North America and South America.''Webster's New World College Dictionary'', 2010 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio. When viewed as a sing ...

. 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: * '' Cretoperipatus'' Engel & Grimaldi, 2002 * '' Eoperipatus'' Evans, 1901 * '' Mesoperipatus'' Evans, 1901 * '' Typhloperipatus'' Kemp, 1913 * Neopatida :* '' Cerradopatus'' Oliveira ''et al.'', 2015 :* '' Epiperipatus'' Clark, 1913 :* '' Heteroperipatus'' Zilch, 1954 :* '' Macroperipatus'' Clark, 1913 :* '' Mongeperipatus'' Barquero-González ''et al.'', 2020 :* ''

Oroperipatus ''Oroperipatus'' is a genus of Neotropical Onychophora, velvet worms in the family Peripatidae. Species in this genus are found in South America west of the Andes and in Mexico. This genus is viviparous, with mothers supplying nourishment to thei ...

'' Cockerell, 1908 :* '' Peripatus'' Guilding, 1826 :* '' Plicatoperipatus'' (Grabham & Cockerell, 1892) :* '' Principapillatus'' Oliveira ''et al.'', 2013 :* '' Speleoperipatus'' Peck, 1975

References

External links

* * Onychophoran families Bartonian first appearances Extant Eocene first appearances {{Onychophora-stub