''Ooperipatellus'' is a genus of
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
n and
New Zealand
New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...
velvet worms
Onychophora (from grc, ονυχής, , "claws"; and , , "to carry"), commonly known as velvet worms (due to their velvety texture and somewhat wormlike appearance) or more ambiguously as peripatus (after the first described genus, '' Peripatus ...
in the
Peripatopsidae
Peripatopsidae is one of the two living velvet worm families.
Description
The Peripatopsidae exhibit relatively many characteristics that are perceived as original or "primitive" with respect to the Peripatidae. The number of leg pairs in this f ...
family.
Species in this genus are
oviparous
Oviparous animals are animals that lay their eggs, with little or no other embryonic development within the mother. This is the reproductive method of most fish, amphibians, most reptiles, and all pterosaurs, dinosaurs (including birds), and ...
. Most species in this genus have 14 pairs of legs, but ''
O. nanus'' has only 13 pairs,
which is the minimum number found in the phylum
Onychophora.
Velvet worms in this genus are among the smallest known, with adults often only 10 to 20 millimeters long.
and molecular data indicate that this genus is a
monophyletic
In cladistics for a group of organisms, monophyly is the condition of being a clade—that is, a group of taxa composed only of a common ancestor (or more precisely an ancestral population) and all of its lineal descendants. Monophyletic gro ...
group.
Species
The genus contains the following species:
* ''
Ooperipatellus decoratus''
(Baehr, 1977)
* ''
Ooperipatellus duwilensis''
Reid
Reid is a surname of Scottish origin. It means "red".
People with the surname
* Alan Reid (disambiguation)
* Alex Reid (disambiguation), includes Alexander Reid
* Amanda Reid, Australian Paralympic athlete
* Amanda Reid (taxonomist), Australia ...
, 1996
* ''
Ooperipatellus insignis''
( Dendy, 1890)
* ''
Ooperipatellus nanus
''Ooperipatellus nanus'' is a species of velvet worm in the family Peripatopsidae. This species is endemic to New Zealand and is found in the South Island.
Taxonomy
This species was first described by Hilke Ruhberg in 1985.
Description
''O. ...
''
Ruhberg, 1985
* ''
Ooperipatellus nickmayeri''
Oliveira & Mayer, 2017
* ''
Ooperipatellus parvus''
Reid, 1996
* ''
Ooperipatellus spenceri''
Cockerell, 1913
* ''
Ooperipatellus viridimaculatus''
(Dendy, 1900)
''Ooperipatellus cryptus''
Jackson & Taylor, 1994 is considered a ''
nomen dubium
In binomial nomenclature, a ''nomen dubium'' (Latin for "doubtful name", plural ''nomina dubia'') is a scientific name that is of unknown or doubtful application.
Zoology
In case of a ''nomen dubium'' it may be impossible to determine whether a s ...
'' by Oliveira et al., 2012.
References
Onychophorans of Australasia
Onychophoran genera
{{Onychophora-stub