Kingdom Animalia Order Euonychophora Genus Tasmanipatus Higher classification Tasmanipatus | Phylum Onychophora Family Peripatopsidae Scientific name Tasmanipatus anophthalmus Rank Species | |
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The blind velvet worm (Tasmanipatus anophthalmus) is a species of velvet worm in the Peripatopsidae family. The species is listed as Endangered on the IUCN Red List.
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Taxonomy
Tasmanipatus barretti was described by Ruhberg et al. in 1991. The generic name Tasmanipatus refers to the species' distribution in Tasmania, Australia. The specific name anophthalmus refers to this species' lack of eyes.
Description
The body is entirely white except for the tips of claws and jaws, which are dark brown. There are 15 pairs of oncopods. Adults are typically 25–30 mm long, but may extend to 50 mm while walking. Most distinctively, this species lacks eyes.
References
Tasmanipatus anophthalmus Wikipedia(Text) CC BY-SA