Some observations on the onychophoran fauna of Tasmania

Volume: 169Start Page: 139End Page: 15

Opisthopatus Purcell 1899

Opisthopatus Purcell, 1899 See Ruhberg (1985) and Hamer et al. (1997) for diagnosis, synonymy and recent accounts.Published as part of Ruhberg, Hilke & Hamer, Michelle L., 2005, A new species of Opisthopatus Purcell, 1899 (Onychophora: Peripatopsidae) from KwaZulu­Natal, South Africa, pp. 27-38 in Zootaxa 1039 on page 29, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.16979

Opisthopatus herbertorum Ruhberg & Hamer, 2005, sp. nov.

<i>Opisthopatus herbertorum</i> sp. nov. (Figs 1–2; 5–9; 11; 14) <p> <i>Material examined.</i> Holotype: Male. South Africa, KwaZulu­Natal, Mt. Currie Nature Reserve, near Kokstad, alongside road between main entrance and pass, in forest patch near ravine (30.28 713°S/29.22 781°E). Mist­belt afromontane forest. Collected from inside rotting log on steep forest floor, leg. R. Slotow, 6. VIII. 2002, fixed and det. H. Ruhberg, 20. IX. 2002 (NMSA 20406).</p> <p> Allotype: Female. South Africa, KwaZulu­Natal, Mt. Currie Nature Reserve, near Kokstad (30.28 713°S/29.22 781°E): patch of indigenous forest in ravine (dominated by <i>Olinia emarginata</i>) in leaf litter, leg. D.G. Herbert, 3. V. 2000 (NMSA 20407).</p> <p> <i>Diagnosis</i>: Colour ± uniform white (= pearlwhite). Seventeen pairs of legs (= oncopods). Many (15) parallel complete dermal plicae/segment. Eyes present, but reduced. <i>O. herbertorum</i> distinguished from the other two <i>Opisthopatus</i> species by (a) <i>number of legs</i>: <i>O.</i> sp. nov. with 17 pairs, <i>O. cinctipes</i> with 16 pairs and <i>O. roseus</i> with 18 pairs; by (b) <i>colour</i>: <i>O. roseus</i> is a uniform dusky pink (Fig. 3) and <i>O. cinctipes</i> never is concolourous, there are various colours including black, brown (Fig. 4), orange, and green, and the species is dorsally speckled with lateral stripes above feet; occasionally collared forms occur. <i>Eyes</i> of <i>O. herbertorum</i> differ in size and shape from those of other <i>Opisthopatus</i> species (Figs 13–14). <i>Dermal plicae</i> per segment more numerous in <i>O. herbertorum</i> (15 complete plicae) than in <i>O. cinctipes</i> (5–8 complete plicae and many anastomoses) and in <i>O. roseus</i> (8 complete plicae).</p> <p> <i>Description: Male (= Holotype)</i>: Distinct crural papillae on oncopods 6–15; crural papillae semicircular or dome­shaped, each with two proximal auricles. Anterior accessory papillae present on either side of genital pad. Paired posterior accessory papillae on anal cone. Genital pore cruciform (Fig. 7).</p> <p> <i>Female (= Allotype)</i>: Specimen slightly perished; large wound between 6th and 7th pair of legs through which intestinal tract, parts of slime gland, and large parts of genital tract protrude. The latter filled with embryos in two different batches of developmental stages: (a) four undeveloped and (b) four and five well developed embryos in each uterus horn (<i>sensu</i> Curach & Sunnucks 1999). Those ready for birth display 17 pairs of legs (cf. stage b in: Curach & Sunnucks 1999). Crural papillae absent. Shape of genital pore: a horizontal and a smaller vertical slit, with tumid lips (Fig. 9).</p> <p> <i>Dimensions</i>: (a) Male: 24 mm long, 3.5 mm wide (fully extended drowned specimen, fixed in 70% ethanol), alive 36 mm length, when walking; (b) Female: 18 mm long, 2.5 mm wide (damaged specimen, fixed in 70% ethanol). <i>Weight:</i> Male: 0.144 g alive just before fixation.</p> <p> <i>Colour</i>: uniform; whitish, with a suggestion of blue and pink (= pearl­white) (Figs 1, 2).</p> <p> <i>Integument</i>: Papillae numerous and closely packed; less variation in size and smaller than in <i>O. cinctipes</i>, 15 complete plicae per segment. Main (= primary) dermal papillae on dorsal surface of body low and rounded (smooth appearance) (Fig. 11), each with a prominent apical seta.</p> <p> <i>Head</i>: Distinct dorsal cleft between antennae in both sexes, as in <i>O. roseus</i> (Fig. 16). <i>Antennae</i> with 30 complete rings each. Distal antennal chemoreceptors surrounded each by a circle of triangular teeth (Fig. 15). <i>Eyes</i> reduced, shape distinctly elongated (Fig. 13). Jaws: 0­5­5­0 (zero tooth on each outer blade, 5 teeth on each inner blade; see Ruhberg 1985).</p> <p> <i>Legs (= oncopods)</i>: 17 pairs in both sexes (Figs 1, 2) with last pair only slightly reduced (Fig. 7). <i>Spinous pads</i>: middle one larger than first and third. Nephridiopore of 4th and 5th leg divides third spinous pad into two subequal parts.</p> <p> <i>Crural papillae</i>: Well developed and everted in drowned male specimen; occurring ventrally on legs 6–15. Semicircular or dome­shaped, each with two proximal auricles. Not present in female.</p> <p> <i>Accessory gland papillae</i>: Flatter than crural papillae. (a) Anterior accessory gland papilla on each side of the genital pad; (b) paired posterior accessory gland papillae on anal cone; foramina separate (Fig. 7).</p> <p> <i>Anal cone</i>: Well developed, broad and plateau­shaped, not fully extended in holotype (Fig. 7). Dermal papillae of anal cone differing from general body dermal papillae, with multiple scales nearly two­tiered.</p> <p> <i>Spermatophores</i>: Not yet known.</p> <p> <i>Distribution</i>: KwaZulu­Natal; at present only known from the type locality (Figs 5–6), a small (approximately 1 hectare) patch of forest in a gully in grassland, with nearest patches of similar forest estimated to be five to ten kilometers away.</p> <p> <i>Etymology:</i> The name honours two persons; (a) Dr David G. Herbert (NMSA), who was the first to collect a specimen of this new species, and whose accurate GPS data greatly facilitated the finding of the second specimen; (b) Herbert Frese, the senior author’s father, who was killed, aged only 26, in the Second World War.</p>Published as part of <i>Ruhberg, Hilke & Hamer, Michelle L., 2005, A new species of Opisthopatus Purcell, 1899 (Onychophora: Peripatopsidae) from KwaZulu­Natal, South Africa, pp. 27-38 in Zootaxa 1039</i> on pages 29-33, DOI: <a href="http://zenodo.org/record/169797">10.5281/zenodo.169797</a&gt

Revision of Tasmanian viviparous velvet worms (Onychophora : Peripatopsidae) with descriptions of two new species

The restricted distribution of viviparous onychophorans in Tasmania has long been a subject of discussion, but their evolutionary history remains unclear. We applied morphological, molecular and karyological methods to assess the taxonomy and phylogenetic relationships of the four viviparous species reported from Tasmania, including Tasmanipatus barretti, T. anophthalmus and two undescribed species previously referred to as 'Tasmania' sp. 1 and sp. 2. We demonstrate that all four species can be unambiguously distinguished based on independent character sets. The two 'Tasmania' species, which were previously thought to be cryptic, proved to exhibit a set of distinct morphological characters. Molecular phylogenetic analyses revealed that the four species belong to a major clade that includes Peripatoides from New Zealand, and that species from the two landmasses show reciprocal monophyly within this clade. Within the Tasmanian clade, T. anophthalmus is more closely related to the two 'Tasmania' species than to T. barretti. Based on this relationship and the lack of morphological and/or karyological characters supporting the Tasmanian viviparous clade, we erect two new genera to accommodate the two 'Tasmania' species (Diemenipatus, gen. nov.) and T. anophthalmus (Leucopatus, gen. nov.). An emended diagnosis followed by a redescription of T. barretti is provided and 'Tasmania' sp. 1 and sp. 2 are formally described as D. taiti, gen. et sp. nov. and D. mesibovi, gen. et sp. nov., respectively.This study was supported by grants from the Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq Brazil: 290029/2010–4) and the Zentrale Forschungsförderung of the University of Kassel (ZFF: 1970/2016) to ISO and the German Research Foundation to GM (DFG: Ma 4147/3–1, 7–1) and HR (Ru 358/2–5)