Epiperipatus is the most diverse genus of neotropical velvet worms in the family Peripatidae.[1][2][3] Species in this genus are found in Central and South America.[3] This genus is viviparous, with mothers supplying nourishment to their embryos through a placenta.[4]

Epiperipatus
Epiperipatus biolleyi
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Onychophora
Family: Peripatidae
Genus: Epiperipatus
Clark, 1913
Species
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Description

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Several traits are considered diagnostic for this genus. These traits include the number of scale ranks (four to eighteen) on the basal piece of the primary papillae, four complete spinous pads of the soles of the feet of the fourth and fifth pairs of legs, sometimes with vestiges of a fifth pad, a nephridial tubercle on the fourth and fifth leg pairs, located between the third and fourth spinous pads, and in males, one to three pairs of pregenital legs with crural papillae. Velvet worms in this genus can have as few as 23 leg pairs (in E. hyperbolicus) or as many as 39 leg pairs (in E. titanicus).[3]

Species

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The genus contains the following species:

Epiperipatus nicaraguensis (Bouvier, 1900) and Epiperipatus tucupi (Froehlich, 1968) are considered nomina dubia by Oliveira et al. 2012.

References

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  1. ^ Oliveira; Hering & Mayer. "Updated Onychophora checklist". Onychophora Website. Retrieved 13 July 2016.
  2. ^ Oliveira, I. S.; Read, V. M. S. J.; Mayer, G. (2012). "A world checklist of Onychophora (velvet worms), with notes on nomenclature and status of names". ZooKeys (211): 1–70. doi:10.3897/zookeys.211.3463. PMC 3426840. PMID 22930648.
  3. ^ a b c Costa, Cristiano Sampaio; Chagas-Junior, Amazonas; Pinto-da-Rocha, Ricardo (2018-10-16). "Redescription of Epiperipatus edwardsii, and descriptions of five new species of Epiperipatus from Brazil (Onychophora: Peripatidae)". Zoologia. 35: 1–15 [1–2, 12]. doi:10.3897/zoologia.35.e23366. ISSN 1984-4689. S2CID 92601575.
  4. ^ Mayer, Georg; Franke, Franziska Anni; Treffkorn, Sandra; Gross, Vladimir; de Sena Oliveira, Ivo (2015), Wanninger, Andreas (ed.), "Onychophora", Evolutionary Developmental Biology of Invertebrates 3, Vienna: Springer Vienna, pp. 53–98, doi:10.1007/978-3-7091-1865-8_4, ISBN 978-3-7091-1864-1, retrieved 2023-02-16