A new species of velvet worm of the genus Oroperipatus (Onychophora, Peripatidae) from western Amazonia

By

Montalvo Salazar, Jorge
Bejarano, M. Lorena
Valarezo, Alfredo
Cisneros-Heredia, Diego F.

Type

Article

Date of Publication

2024

Original Publication

Zoosystematics and evolution

Volume

100

Pages

779--789

Subjects

Andean peripatids , Ecuador , Neopatida , new species , taxonomy , Tiputini Biodiversity Station , Yasuní

Contributed by

Pensoft Publishers

Language

English

Published by

Sofia Pensoft

Identifiers

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3897/zse.100.117952

 

Abstract

The diversity of Neotropical velvet worms (Onychophora, Neopatida) is significantly underestimated, particularly within the Andean clade represented by the genus Oroperipatus, the last species of which was described more than 70 years ago. Here, we describe a new species of Oroperipatus from the Amazonian lowlands of Ecuador, bringing the total number of described species on mainland Ecuador to seven and in western Amazonia to three. The new species, Oroperipatus tiputini sp. nov., can be distinguished from its congenerics by the following combination of characters: two variations of primary papillae alternated between dorsal plicae; four scale ranks in the apical piece of primary papillae; reduced fifth spinous pad of legs IV and V; four supraocular papillae; occasionally reduced anterior papilla; males with two crural tubercles per leg in the first pregenital pair and a single crural tubercle per leg in the next pair; and some accessory papillae with one lateral rudimentary apical piece. We also discuss novel morphological similarities and differences with other Neopatida genera, as revealed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM).