An undescribed species of velvet worm from Chiapas, Mexico (Onychophora: Peripatidae)
Onychophoran worms are considered “living fossils” because their basic body structure has changed little in 500 million years. Only two species have been properly recorded from Mexico: Macroperipatus perrieri from Veracruz, and Oroperipatus eisenii from Nayarit. Here we report an undescribed spe...
| Autores Principales: | Toledo-Matus, Xocoyotzin, Rivera Velázquez, Gustavo, Monge-Nájera, Julián, Morera-Brenes, Bernal |
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| Formato: | Artículo |
| Idioma: | Inglés |
| Publicado: |
Universidad Estatal a Distancia (Costa Rica)
2023
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| Materias: | |
| Acceso en línea: |
http://hdl.handle.net/11056/26715 https://doi.org/10.22458/urj.v10i1.2025 |
| Sumario: |
Onychophoran worms are considered “living fossils” because
their basic body structure has changed little in 500 million
years. Only two species have been properly recorded from Mexico:
Macroperipatus perrieri from Veracruz, and Oroperipatus eisenii from
Nayarit. Here we report an undescribed species of Oroperipatus from
Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Chiapas. Males, which are rarer, smaller and reddish
than females, are 3-4cm long and have 24-25 leg pairs (N=6). Females
are 4-7,5cm long and have 28-29 pairs (N=19). We propose the common
name “Tuxtla Brownish Purple Velvet Worm” to help study and
protect the species until it receives formal description. This new record
expands the known distribution of the phylum in Mexico from the evergreen
forest of Veracruz to the deciduous forest of Tuxtla (400Km). |
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