Opisthopatus swatii
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''Opisthopatus swatii'' is a species of velvet worm in the family
Peripatidae Peripatidae is a family of velvet worms. The oldest putative representatives of the family herald from Burmese amber dated to the mid-Cretaceous, around 100 Ma, with representatives from Dominican and Baltic amber attesting to a broader distribu ...
. This species is a
clade A clade (), also known as a monophyletic group or natural group, is a group of organisms that are monophyletic – that is, composed of a common ancestor and all its lineal descendants – on a phylogenetic tree. Rather than the English term, ...
in the '' O. cinctipes'' species complex. This species has 16 pairs of legs, and the color of the dorsal surface ranges from blue to slate black, while the ventral surface ranges from light brown to creamy white. The original description of this species is based on male holotypes ranging from 13 mm to 20 mm in length. Also known as the Swati velvet worm, this species is found in indigenous forest patches along the Highveld in
Mpumalanga Mpumalanga () is a province of South Africa. The name means "East", or literally "The Place Where the Sun Rises" in the Swazi, Xhosa, Ndebele and Zulu languages. Mpumalanga lies in eastern South Africa, bordering Eswatini and Mozambique. It ...
province in South Africa.


References


Further reading

* Endemic fauna of South Africa Onychophorans of temperate Africa Onychophoran species Animals described in 2016 {{Onychophora-stub