Paraperipatus papuensis

{{Short description|Species of velvet worm}}

{{Speciesbox

| image =

| image_caption =

| genus = Paraperipatus

| species = papuensis

| authority = (Sedgwick, 1910)

| synonyms =

• Peripatus papuensis Sedgwick, 1910

}}

Paraperipatus papuensis is a species of velvet worm in the Peripatopsidae family.{{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}} This species is a pale greenish blue.{{Cite book |last=Leloup |first=E. |url=https://biblio.naturalsciences.be/rbins-publications/occasional-scientific-results-of-the-trip-to-the-dutch-east-india-of-ll-aa-rr-the-prince-and-princess-leopold-of-belgium-published-by-victor-van-straelen/Vol2-1-1934/irscnb_d1896_03d3f6x_4-1-partie-9-red.pdf |title=Résultats scientifiques du voyage aux Indes orientales néerlandaises de LL. AA. RR. le prince et la princesse Léopold de Belgique |publisher=Musée royale d'histoire naturelle de Belgique |year=1931 |volume=2 |location=Bruxelles |pages=1–14 |language=French |chapter=Paraperipatus leopoldi nov. nom. |doi=}} Females of this species may have as few as 21 pairs of legs or as many as 29 pairs, exhibiting the greatest intraspecific variation in leg number found in any peripatopsid species.{{Cite journal |last=Lande |first=Virginia M. |date=1991 |title=Native and introduced Onychophora in Singapore |url=https://academic.oup.com/zoolinnean/article-lookup/doi/10.1111/j.1096-3642.1991.tb00284.x |journal=Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society |language=en |volume=102 |issue=2 |pages=101–114 |doi=10.1111/j.1096-3642.1991.tb00284.x}} Males of this species range from 21 to 27 leg pairs.{{Cite book |last=Ruhberg |first=Hilke |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/14872354 |title=Die Peripatopsidae (Onychophora) : Systematik, Ökologie, Chorologie und phylogenetische Aspekte |date=1985 |publisher=E. Schweizerbart |isbn=3-510-55023-4 |location=Stuttgart |language=German |oclc=14872354}} The maximum number of leg pairs recorded in this species (29){{Cite journal |last=Sedgwick |first=A. |date=1910 |title=Peripatus papuensis |url=https://www.nature.com/articles/083369b0 |journal=Nature |language=en |volume=83 |issue=2117 |pages=369–370 |doi=10.1038/083369b0 |bibcode=1910Natur..83..369S |issn=1476-4687 |s2cid=45711430|url-access=subscription }} is also the maximum number of leg pairs found in the family Peripatopsidae.{{Cite book|last1=Giribet|first1=Gonzalo|url=https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/9780691197067-032/html|title=30. Onychophora|last2=Edgecombe|first2=Gregory D.|date=2020-03-03|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=978-0-691-19706-7|language=en|doi=10.1515/9780691197067-032|s2cid=240645062 }}{{Cite journal|last=Mayer|first=Georg|date=2007-04-05|title=Metaperipatus inae sp. nov. (Onychophora: Peripatopsidae) from Chile with a novel ovarian type and dermal insemination|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/216267921|journal=Zootaxa|volume=1440|issue=1|pages=21–37|doi=10.11646/zootaxa.1440.1.2|issn=1175-5334|via=ResearchGate}} Females range from 22 mm to 83 mm in length, whereas males range from 19 mm to 45 mm.{{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}} The type locality is in Western New Guinea, Indonesia.{{cite journal|last1=Oliveira|first1=I. S.|last2=Read|first2=V. M. S. J.|last3=Mayer|first3=G.|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|pmid=22930648|pmc=3426840|doi-access=free|bibcode=2012ZooK..211....1O }}