Revision of Tasmanian viviparous velvet worms (Onychophora : Peripatopsidae) with descriptions of two new species
Ivo de Sena Oliveira A B E , Hilke Ruhberg C , David M. Rowell D and Georg Mayer A
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations
A Department of Zoology, Institute of Biology, University of Kassel, Heinrich-Plett-Straße 40, D-34312 Kassel, Germany.
B Departamento de Zoologia, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Av. Antônio Carlos 6627, 31270-901 Belo Horizonte, Brazil.
C Center of Natural History (CeNak), University of Hamburg, Zoological Museum, Martin-Luther-King-Platz 3, D-20146 Hamburg, Germany.
D Division of Ecology and Evolution, Research School of Biology, Australian National University, 2601, Canberra, ACT, Australia.
E Corresponding author. Email: ivo.oliveira@uni-kassel.de
Invertebrate Systematics 32(4) 909-932 https://doi.org/10.1071/IS17096
Submitted: 16 December 2017 Accepted: 19 February 2018 Published: 16 August 2018
Abstract
The restricted distribution of viviparous onychophorans in Tasmania has long been a subject of discussion, but their evolutionary history remains unclear. We applied morphological, molecular and karyological methods to assess the taxonomy and phylogenetic relationships of the four viviparous species reported from Tasmania, including Tasmanipatus barretti, T. anophthalmus and two undescribed species previously referred to as ‘Tasmania’ sp. 1 and sp. 2. We demonstrate that all four species can be unambiguously distinguished based on independent character sets. The two ‘Tasmania’ species, which were previously thought to be cryptic, proved to exhibit a set of distinct morphological characters. Molecular phylogenetic analyses revealed that the four species belong to a major clade that includes Peripatoides from New Zealand, and that species from the two landmasses show reciprocal monophyly within this clade. Within the Tasmanian clade, T. anophthalmus is more closely related to the two ‘Tasmania’ species than to T. barretti. Based on this relationship and the lack of morphological and/or karyological characters supporting the Tasmanian viviparous clade, we erect two new genera to accommodate the two ‘Tasmania’ species (Diemenipatus, gen. nov.) and T. anophthalmus (Leucopatus, gen. nov.). An emended diagnosis followed by a redescription of T. barretti is provided and ‘Tasmania’ sp. 1 and sp. 2 are formally described as D. taiti, gen. et sp. nov. and D. mesibovi, gen. et sp. nov., respectively.
Additional keywords: Australia, biodiversity, molecular systematics, taxonomy.
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