''Peripatus juliformis'' is a species of

velvet worm 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

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 ...

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

. Females of this species have 33 or 34 pairs of legs; males have 29 or 30. Females range from 36 mm to 75 mm in length, whereas males range from 14 mm to 16 mm. The type locality is on

Saint Vincent Island Saint Vincent is a volcanic island in the Caribbean. It is the largest island of the country Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and is located in the Caribbean Sea, between Saint Lucia and Grenada. It is composed of partially submerged volcan ...

. This species became the first velvet worm known to science when Guilding described it in 1826. He thought it was an unusual type of slug, and included it along with his Caribbean mollusks. He named this genus ''

Peripatus ''Peripatus'' is a genus of velvet worms in the Peripatidae family. The name "peripatus" (unitalicised and uncapitalised) is also used to refer to the Onychophora as a whole, although this group comprises many other genera besides ''Peripatus' ...

'' (1826). He included an excellent watercolor painting of the specimen, and a mention of the defensive mechanism of sticky liquid squirts. A translation into English from Guilding's description, originally written in Latin, shows how he first classified the specimen in the Class Moluska, and how astonished he was for discovering a new species.Monge, J. (2019). " I, astonished, discovered by chance the only specimen”: the first velvet worm (Onychophora). Blog RBT. Retrieved from: https://revistas.ucr.ac.cr/index.php/rbt/article/view/39056/39793

References

Onychophorans of tropical America Onychophoran species Animals described in 1826 {{Onychophora-stub