''Peripatoides'' is a genus of

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 ...

, whose species are found in

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 ...

. Like all velvet worms, these animals are nocturnal hunters that spit glue to trap their prey. Species of ''Peripatoides'' have 14, 15 or 16 pairs of legs. Female ''Peripatoides'' produce eggs that are fertilized internally and babies develop inside their mother until large enough to be born, in batches of 4-6, as colourless miniatures of the parents. These live-bearing ''Peripatoides'' have dermal-haemocoelic sperm transfer - which means sperm dissolve holes in the skin of the female to enter the body (haemolymph) anywhere on the body wall of the female.

Species

The genus contains the following species: * ''

Peripatoides indigo ''Peripatoides indigo'', the indigo velvet worm, is a velvet worm of the family Peripatopsidae. The Māori name for the velvet worm is ngaokeoke, from the Māori word 'ngaoki', to crawl. Description The ''Peripatoides indigo'' can grow up to 9 ...

'' Ruhberg, 1985 * '' Peripatoides kawekaensis'' Trewick, 1998 * ''

Peripatoides suteri ''Peripatoides suteri'' is a species of velvet worm in the Peripatopsidae family. This species is ovoviviparous, has 16 pairs of legs, and is endemic to New Zealand. These velvet worms range in size from 14 mm to 90 mm. Conservation This spe ...

'' Dendy, 1894 The

ovoviviparous Ovoviviparity, ovovivipary, ovivipary, or aplacental viviparity is a term used as a "bridging" form of reproduction between egg-laying oviparous and live-bearing viviparous reproduction. Ovoviviparous animals possess embryos that develop insi ...

(live-bearing) taxon with 15 pairs of legs from New Zealand, ''Peripatoides novaezealandiae'' (Hutton 1876), is a

species complex In biology, a species complex is a group of closely related organisms that are so similar in appearance and other features that the boundaries between them are often unclear. The taxa in the complex may be able to hybridize readily with each oth ...

of at least five reproductively isolated taxa described in 1998. These new species (''Peripatoides aurorbis'', '' Peripatoides kawekaensis'', ''Peripatoides morgani'' and ''Peripatoides sympatrica'' Trewick, 1998) have no morphological characters that distinguish them although they are genetically differentiated. ''Peripatoides novaezealandiae'' (Hutton, 1876), and the cryptic species were considered ''

nomina dubia 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 because type locations were identified not

holotype A holotype is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism, known to have been used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of several ...

specimens for ''P. novaezealandiae''. However, the type material of the cryptic species are held at

Te Papa Tongarewa Museum The Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa is New Zealand's national museum and is located in Wellington. ''Te Papa Tongarewa'' translates literally to "container of treasures" or in full "container of treasured things and people that spring f ...

, eg. There is debate about whether a species name should be recognized if a whole dead specimen is not held in a museum. In 2014 the New Zealand Department of Conservation also recognized: * ''Peripatoides novaezealandiae'' (Hutton, 1876) * ''Peripatoides aurorbis'' Trewick, 1998 * ''Peripatoides morgani'' Trewick, 1998 * ''Peripatoides sympatrica'' Trewick, 1998

Species

References

Further reading