On the troglobitic velvet worm Speleoperipatus spelaeus Peck, 1975 (Onychophora, Peripatidae): assessing the status of a Critically Endangered Jamaican invertebrate

By

Giribet, Gonzalo
Avinipully Anilkumar, Pooja
Goodwin, Abbio
Stewart, Ronald S
Watkis, Claud A.
Whyte, Damion
Hormiga, Gustavo

Type

Article

Date of Publication

2025

Original Publication

Subterranean Biology

Volume

51

Pages

49--59

Subjects

Cave biogeography , Jamaican caves , Jamaican endemics , Onychophora , Terrestrial invertebrates , Troglobiont

Contributed by

Pensoft Publishers

Language

English

Published by

Sofia, Bulgaria Pensoft Publishers

Identifiers

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3897/subtbiol.51.151034

 

Abstract

The velvet worm Speleoperipatus spelaeus Peck, 1975 is one of the rarest velvet worm species reported, as it is only known from its type locality, Pedro Great Cave, Clarendon Parish, Jamaica. The type material of the species, the only four specimens available in known scientific collections, was obtained in the early 1970’s, and since then, no additional specimens have been available for research. More recently, observations of three probably conspecific specimens by the Jamaican Caves Organisation, not collected, have been made in a different location, Swansea Cave, Saint Catherine Parish. Here we report and document five specimens of this rare species from the type locality, Pedro Great Cave, as well as some observations about their behavior. Placing this species in a phylogenetic context should be attempted in the future, to better understand the significance of Speleoperipatus spelaeus and its evolutionary origins, its relationship to the Swansea Cave specimens, and to determine what are its closest relatives and whether those are other Jamaican species or velvet worms from other geographical areas.