Eoperipatus
{{Short description|Genus of velvet worms}}
{{Automatic taxobox
| image = Eoperipatus totoro.jpg
| image_caption = Eoperipatus totoro
| taxon = Eoperipatus
| authority = Evans, 1901
| subdivision_ranks = Species
| subdivision = See text
}}
Eoperipatus is a genus of velvet worms in the family Peripatidae.{{cite web|author=Oliveira I.|author2=Hering L.|author3=Mayer, G.|name-list-style=amp|title=Updated Onychophora checklist|url=http://www.onychophora.com/list.htm|website=Onychophora Website|access-date=24 November 2016}} These velvet worms have been reported from locations throughout Southeast Asia, including Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.{{Cite journal |last1=Oliveira |first1=Ivo de Sena |last2=Schaffer |first2=Stefan |last3=Kvartalnov |first3=Pavel V. |last4=Galoyan |first4=Eduard A. |last5=Palko |first5=Igor V. |last6=Weck-Heimann |first6=Andreas |last7=Geissler |first7=Peter |last8=Ruhberg |first8=Hilke |last9=Mayer |first9=Georg |date=2013 |title=A new species of Eoperipatus (Onychophora) from Vietnam reveals novel morphological characters for the South-East Asian Peripatidae |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0044523113000028 |journal=Zoologischer Anzeiger |language=en |volume=252 |issue=4 |pages=495–510 |doi=10.1016/j.jcz.2013.01.001|bibcode=2013ZooAn.252..495O }} This genus exhibits lecithotrophic ovoviviparity; that is, mothers in this genus retain yolky eggs in their uteri.{{Citation |last1=Mayer |first1=Georg |title=Onychophora |date=2015 |url=http://link.springer.com/10.1007/978-3-7091-1865-8_4 |work=Evolutionary Developmental Biology of Invertebrates 3 |pages=53–98 |editor-last=Wanninger |editor-first=Andreas |place=Vienna |publisher=Springer Vienna |language=en |doi=10.1007/978-3-7091-1865-8_4 |isbn=978-3-7091-1864-1 |access-date=2023-02-15 |last2=Franke |first2=Franziska Anni |last3=Treffkorn |first3=Sandra |last4=Gross |first4=Vladimir |last5=de Sena Oliveira |first5=Ivo}}
Etymology
This genus was first described in 1901 by Richard Evans of Jesus College at the University of Oxford. He proposed this genus to contain the newly discovered species E. horsti and E. weldoni as well as the species originally described as Peripatus sumatranus. The generic name Eoperipatus is derived from an Ancient Greek combining form of {{lang|grc|Ἠώς}} ({{Transliteration|grc|ēṓs}}), meaning "dawn," and peripatos, meaning "walking about." This name refers to the distribution of these velvet worms in the Far East.
Description
The number of legs in this genus varies within species as well as among species and ranges from 22 pairs (in E. butleri){{Cite journal |last=Bouvier |first=E.-L. |date=1905 |title=Monographie des Onychophores |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/106477#page/13/mode/1up |journal=Annales des Sciences Naturelles, Zoologie |language=French |volume=9 |issue=2 |pages=1–383 |via=Biodiversity Heritage Library}} to 25 pairs (in E. horsti and E. weldoni).{{Cite journal |last=Evans |first=Richard |date=1901 |title=On two new species of Onychophora from the Siamese Malay States |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/161565#page/599/mode/1up |journal=Quarterly Journal of Microscopical Science |volume=44 |pages=473–538 |via=Biodiversity Heritage Library}} In this genus, the crural tubercles form a single complex united by a dermal fold on each leg of two pregenital leg pairs. Males in this genus feature a single and medial anal gland opening on a pad in front of the anus. The male also features a circular pit on each quadrant of the genital pad, which is divided by a cruciform genital opening.{{Cite journal |last1=Oliveira |first1=Ivo de Sena |last2=Franke |first2=Franziska Anni |last3=Hering |first3=Lars |last4=Schaffer |first4=Stefan |last5=Rowell |first5=David M. |last6=Weck-Heimann |first6=Andreas |last7=Monge-Nájera |first7=Julián |last8=Morera-Brenes |first8=Bernal |last9=Mayer |first9=Georg |date=2012-12-17 |title=Unexplored Character Diversity in Onychophora (Velvet Worms): A Comparative Study of Three Peripatid Species |journal=PLOS ONE |language=en |volume=7 |issue=12 |pages=e51220 |doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0051220 |issn=1932-6203 |pmc=3524137 |pmid=23284667 |doi-access=free|bibcode=2012PLoSO...751220O }}{{Cite journal |last1=González |first1=José Pablo Barquero |last2=Sánchez-Vargas |first2=Steven |last3=Morera-Brenes |first3=Bernal |date=2020-03-31 |title=A new giant velvet worm from Costa Rica suggests absence of the genus Peripatus (Onychophora: Peripatidae) in Central America |url=https://revistas.ucr.ac.cr/index.php/rbt/article/view/37675 |journal=Revista de Biología Tropical |language=en |volume=68 |issue=1 |pages=300–320 |doi=10.15517/rbt.v68i1.37675 |issn=2215-2075|hdl=11056/20248 |hdl-access=free }} The female genital opening is a transverse slit. Each leg features two distal foot papillae, one anterior and one posterior.{{cite journal |last1=Evans |first1=R. |date=1901 |title=Eoperipatus butleri (nov sp) |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/13831311#page/565/mode/1up |journal=Quarterly Journal of Microscopical Science |volume=44 |issue=176 |pages=539–545 |via=Biodiversity Heritage Library}}
Species
The genus contains the following described species:
- Eoperipatus butleri Evans, 1901
- Eoperipatus horsti Evans, 1901
- Eoperipatus totoro Oliveira et al., 2013
- Eoperipatus weldoni Evans, 1901
Eoperipatus sumatranus (Sedgwick, 1888) is considered a nomen dubium by Oliveira et al. 2012.{{cite journal |last1=Oliveira |first1=Ivo |last2=Read |first2=V. Morley |last3=Mayer |first3=Georg |title=A world checklist of Onychophora (velvet worms), with notes on nomenclature and status of names |journal=ZooKeys |date=2012 |issue=211 |pages=1–70 |doi=10.3897/zookeys.211.3463|doi-access=free |pmid=22930648 |pmc=3426840 |bibcode=2012ZooK..211....1O }}
In addition to these species, an undescribed species is known to occur in Thailand. Furthermore, reports of Eoperipatus in Borneo and an unidentified velvet worm in central Vietnam, north of the known distribution of Eoperipatus totoro, may represent still more undescribed species of Eoperipatus.
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{Commons category-inline|Eoperipatus|Eoperipatus}}
{{Onychophora}}
{{Taxonbar|from=Q2806213}}
Category:Onychophorans of southeast Asia
{{Onychophora-stub}}