The Amazon Collared Velvet Worm, casually called peripatus, (Oroperipatus sp.) is a primitive bizarre creature so distinct from all others that it occupies its own phylum. Often found at night, these creatures sit out in the open, curled up on leaves. The species normally encountered in the Peruvian Amazon of Loreto has a white collar. Velvet worms, or Onychophorans, are in their own phylum - onychophora - and are small, predatory invertebrates. They are found around the world, mostly in the tropics - at least a couple of species live in caves. They shoot a stream of glue-like material from slime glands on their heads and snare other small invertebrates, which they eat. Some species are social and apparently even hunt in small groups. Velvet worms are soft bodied (no rigid exoskeleton) and have a hydrostatic skeleton. As an interesting herpetological tie-in, Hemprichis Coral Snake (Micrurus hemprichii) eats velvet worms. This individual was photographed in Amazonian Peru, January |