Phylum Onychophora — Velvet Worms
Characteristics
- Caterpillar-like, 5 mm - 15 cm long
- Numerous paired, unjointed lobopods (legs)
- Head appendages: antennae, jaws, oral papillae
- Thin, chitinous cuticle is molted
- Covered in fine tubercles (giving velvet-like appearance)
- Produce sticky slime to capture prey
- Terrestrial in moist tropical forests
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Velvet Worm, Peripatus sp., preserved specimen
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Possible Onychophorans from the Cambrian Period, 505 mya: Aysheaia (left) and Hallucigenia (right)
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Phylum Tardigrada — Water Bears
Characteristics
- Small (< 0.5mm), stubby-bodied
- 8 short, clawed legs
- Have a slow, lumbering gait
- Chitinous cuticle that is molted
- Oral stylets for piercing plants
- Most in moist film on lichens, mosses, and other small plants
- Capable of cryptobiosis: suspended animation to withstand drying
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Water Bear, probably Hypsibius sp.
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Water Bear, probably Hypsibius sp.
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Phylum Dinocarida† — Dinocarids
Characteristics
- Extinct; Primarily from Cambrian Period
- Segmented with broad lateral lobes
- Well-developed eyes (either 2 or 5)
- Ventral mouth
- Segmented feeding appendage(s)
- Anomalocarids included the largest predators of their time
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Animalocarids from the Cambrian Period: Anomalocaris (above) and Laggania (below)
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Opabinia, from Cambrian Period
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