Onychophora

Velvet worm Oroperipatus sp., copyright Piotr Naskrecki.

Belongs within: Ecdysozoa.

The Onychophora include the living velvet worms, a group of soft-bodied, multi-legged terrestrial invertebrates, together with a number of their Palaeozoic marine relatives. Synapomorphies of the onychophoran total group include the limbless posterior extension of the lobopodous trunk, undifferentiated posterior appendages and the loss of radially symmetrical circum-oral structures (Smith & Ortega-Hernández 2014).

<==Onychophora [Polylobopoda, Xenusia]
    |  i. s.: Ooperipatus viridimaculata O81
    |         Miraluolishania LS11
    |--Onychodictyon gracilis SO-H14
    `--+--Paucipodia SO-H14
       |--Microdictyon SO-H14
       |    |--M. sinicum CM98
       |    `--M. sphaeroides Hinz 1987 L95
       |--+--Diania Liu, Steiner et al. 2011 SO-H14, LS11
       |  |    `--*D. cactiformis Liu, Steiner et al. 2011 LS11
       |  `--Xenusion Pompeckj 1927 SO-H14, H62
       |       `--*X. auerswaldae Pompeckj 1927 H62
       `--+--Cardiodictyon SO-H14
          `--+--Hallucigenia SO-H14
             |    |--H. fortis SO-H14
             |    |--H. sparsa SO-H14 [=Canadia sparsa] CM98
             |    `--+--H. hongmeia SO-H14
             |       `--Luolishania SO-H14
             `--+--Orstenotubulus SO-H14
                `--+--Antennacanthopodia SO-H14
                   `--+--Ilyodes SO-H14
                      `--Euonychophora GE05
                           |--Helenodora GE05
                           `--+--Succinipatopsis LSE13
                              |--Tertiapatus LSE13
                              `--+--Peripatopsidae GE05
                                 |    |--Peripatoides novaezealandiae RS10
                                 |    |--Ooperipatellus nanus Ruhberg 1985 RS04
                                 |    |--Peripatopsis GEW01
                                 |    |    |--P. alba L31
                                 |    |    |--P. capensis GD00
                                 |    |    `--P. sedgwicki SK14
                                 |    `--Euperipatoides RS10
                                 |         |--E. kanangrensis DH08
                                 |         |--E. leukarti GD00
                                 |         `--E. rowelli RS10
                                 `--Peripatidae GE05
                                      |  i. s.: Cretoperipatus burmiticus GE05
                                      `--Peripatinae Z54b
                                           |--Mesoperipatus L88
                                           |--Speleoperipatus L88
                                           |--Heteroperipatus Zilch 1954 Z54a
                                           |    `--*H. engelhardi Zilch 1954 Z54a
                                           |--Peripatus Guilding 1826 Z54a
                                           |    |  i. s.: P. clarki Dunn 1943 Z54a
                                           |    |         P. intermedius Bouvier 1901 Z54a
                                           |    `--P. (Epiperipatus Clark 1913) Z54a
                                           |         `--‘Epiperipatus’ biolleyi GR98
                                           `--Oroperipatus Cockerell 1908 Z54b
                                                |--O. bluntschlii Fuhrmann 1915 Z54b
                                                |--O. koepckei Zilch 1954 Z54b
                                                |--O. omeyrus Marcus 1952 Z54b
                                                |--‘Peripatus’ peruanus Grube 1876 Z54b
                                                |--O. peruvianus (Brues 1917) Z54b
                                                |--O. sorotanus Z54b
                                                `--O. weyrauchi Marcus 1952 Z54b

*Type species of generic name indicated

REFERENCES

[CM98] Conway Morris, S. 1998. The Crucible of Creation. Oxford University Press: Oxford.

[DH08] Dunn, C. W., A. Hejnol, D. Q. Matus, K. Pang, W. E. Browne, S. A. Smith, E. Seaver, G. W. Rouse, M. Obst, G. D. Edgecombe, M. V. Sørensen, S. H. D. Haddock, A. Schmidt-Rhaesa, A. Okusu, R. M. Kristensen, W. C. Wheeler, M. Q. Martindale & G. Giribet. 2008. Broad phylogenomic sampling improves resolution of the animal tree of life. Nature 452: 745–749.

[GD00] Giribet, G., D. L. Distel, M. Polz, W. Sterrer & W. C. Wheeler. 2000. Triploblastic relationships with emphasis on the acoelomates and the position of Gnathostomulida, Cycliophora, Plathelminthes, and Chaetognatha: a combined approach of 18S rDNA sequences and morphology. Systematic Biology 49: 539–562.

[GEW01] Giribet, G., G. D. Edgecombe & W. C. Wheeler. 2001. Arthropod phylogeny based on eight molecular loci and morphology. Nature 413: 157–161.

[GR98] Giribet, G., & C. Ribera. 1998. The position of arthropods in the animal kingdom: a search for a reliable outgroup for internal arthropod phylogeny. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 9: 481–488.

[GE05] Grimaldi, D., & M. S. Engel. 2005. Evolution of the Insects. Cambridge University Press: New York.

[H62] Häntzschel, W. 1962. Trace fossils and problematica. In: Moore, R. C. (ed.) Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology pt W. Miscellanea: Conodonts, Conoidal Shells of Uncertain Affinities, Worms, Trace Fossils and Problematica pp. W177–W245. Geological Society of America, and University of Kansas Press.

[L95] Landing, E. 1995. Upper Placentian–Branchian series of mainland Nova Scotia (middle–upper Lower Cambrian): faunas, paleoenvironments, and stratigraphic revision. Journal of Paleontology 69 (3): 475–495.

[L31] Lawrence, R. F. 1931. The harvest-spiders (Opiliones) of South Africa. Annals of the South African Museum 29 (2): 341–508.

[LSE13] Legg, D. A., M. D. Sutton & G. D. Edgecombe. 2013. Arthropod fossil data increase congruence of morphological and molecular phylogenies. Nature Communications 4 (2485): 1–7.

[L88] Liebherr, J. K. 1988. General patterns in West Indian insects, and graphical biogeographic analysis of some circum-Caribbean Platynus beetles (Carabidae). Systematic Zoology 37 (4): 385–409.

[LS11] Liu, J., M. Steiner, J. A. Dunlop, H. Keupp, D. Shu, Q. Ou, J. Han, Z. Zhang & X. Zhang. 2011. An armoured Cambrian lobopodian from China with arthropod-like appendages. Nature 470: 526–530.

[O81] O'Brien, C. O. 1981. A. A. Book of New Zealand Wildlife: A guide to the native and introduced animals of New Zealand. Lansdowne Press: Auckland.

[RS04] Regier, J. C., J. W. Shultz, R. E. Kambic & D. R. Nelson. 2004. Robust support for tardigrade clades and their ages from three protein-coding nuclear genes. Invertebrate Biology 123 (2): 93–100.

[RS10] Regier, J. C., J. W. Shultz, A. Zwick, A. Hussey, B. Ball, R. Wetzer, J. W. Martin & C. W. Cunningham. 2010. Arthropod relationships revealed by phylogenomic analysis of nuclear protein-coding sequences. Nature 463: 1079–1083.

[SK14] Sharma, P. P., S. T. Kaluziak, A. R. Pérez-Porro, V. L. González, G. Hormiga, W. C. Wheeler & G. Giribet. 2014. Phylogenomic interrogation of Arachnida reveals systemic conflicts in phylogenetic signal. Molecular Biology and Evolution 31 (11): 2963–2984.

[SO-H14] Smith, M. R., & J. Ortega-Hernández. 2014. Hallucigenia's onychophoran-like claws and the case for Tactopoda. Nature 514: 363–366.

[Z54a] Zilch, A. 1954a. Onychophoren aus El Salvador. Senckenbergiana Biologica 35: 147–150.

[Z54b] Zilch, A. 1954b. Ein neuer Oroperipatus aus Peru (Onychophora). Senckenbergiana Biologica 35: 151–154.