''Opisthopatus'' is a genus of
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...
n
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 family
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 ...
.
The number of legs in this genus range from 16 pairs (e.g., in ''
O. cinctipes'') to 18 pairs (in ''
O. roseus''). The feet in this genus feature three distal leg papillae: one anterior, one posterior, and one median.
Mothers in this genus give birth to live young. In particular, this genus exhibits
matrotrophic
Matrotrophy is a form of maternal care during organism development, associated with live birth (viviparity), in which the embryo of an animal or flowering plant is supplied with additional nutrition from the mother (e.g. through a placenta). This ...
viviparity
Among animals, viviparity is development of the embryo inside the body of the parent. This is opposed to oviparity which is a reproductive mode in which females lay developing eggs that complete their development and hatch externally from the m ...
, that is, mothers in this genus retain eggs in their uteri and supply nourishment to their embryos, but without any placenta.
Species
The genus contains the following species:
* ''
Opisthopatus amatolensis''
Choonoo, 1947
* ''
Opisthopatus amaxhosa''
Daniels et al., 2016
* ''
Opisthopatus baziya''
Barnes & Daniels, 2022
* ''
Opisthopatus camdebooi''
Barnes & Daniels, 2022
* ''
Opisthopatus cinctipes''
Purcell, 1899
* ''
Opisthopatus drakensbergi''
Daniels et al., 2016
* ''
Opisthopatus herbertorum''
Ruhberg & Hamer, 2005
* ''
Opisthopatus highveldi''
Daniels et al., 2016
* ''
Opisthopatus kwazululandi''
Daniels et al., 2016
* ''
Opisthopatus laevis''
Lawrence, 1947
* ''
Opisthopatus natalensis''
Bouvier, 1900
* ''
Opisthopatus roseus
''Opisthopatus roseus'' is a species of velvet worm in the Peripatopsidae family. As traditionally defined, this species is rose pink with 18 pairs of legs. Known as the pink velvet worm, it is found only in the Weza Forest, a Mistbelt Forest in ...
''
Lawrence, 1947, the pink velvet worm
* ''
Opisthopatus swatii''
Daniels et al., 2016
References
Endemic fauna of South Africa
Onychophorans of temperate Africa
Onychophoran genera
Taxa named by William Frederick Purcell
Taxonomy articles created by Polbot
{{Onychophora-stub