Mesoperipatus

{{Short description|Genus and species of basal Peripatid velvet worm}}

{{Speciesbox

| status = DD

| status_system = IUCN2.3

| status_ref = {{cite iucn |author=New, T.R. |date=1996 |title=Mesoperipatus tholloni |volume=1996 |page=e.T13239A3424284 |doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.1996.RLTS.T13239A3424284.en |access-date=15 November 2021}}

| genus = Mesoperipatus

| parent_authority= Evans, 1901

| species = tholloni

| authority = (Bouvier, 1898)

}}

Mesoperipatus is a monospecific genus of velvet worm in the Peripatidae family, containing a single species Mesoperipatus tholloni. It is found in Gabon,{{cite web|url=https://www.gbif.org/occurrence/search?taxon_key=2235491&HAS_COORDINATE=true&HAS_GEOSPATIAL_ISSUE=false|website=Global Biodiversity Information Facility|title=Mesoperipatus tholloni|access-date=4 July 2016}} making it the only known species of velvet worm in the tropics of Africa, and the only known species of peripatid velvet worm in Africa. Females of this species have 24 to 27 pairs of legs; males have 23 or 24.{{Cite journal|last=Monge-Nájera|first=Julián|date=1994|title=Reproductive trends, habitat type and body characteristcs in velvet worms (Onychophora)|url=https://revistas.ucr.ac.cr/index.php/rbt/article/view/23266|journal=Revista de Biología Tropical|volume=42 |issue=3 |language=en|pages=611–622|issn=2215-2075}} This species is viviparous, but too little is known of its embryology to describe its reproductive mode in any more detail; the presence of a placenta, for example, has not been confirmed.{{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=2023-02-16 |last2=Franke |first2=Franziska Anni |last3=Treffkorn |first3=Sandra |last4=Gross |first4=Vladimir |last5=de Sena Oliveira |first5=Ivo|url-access=subscription }}