Velvet worms are claw-bearing, segmented animals with 13-43 pairs of legs found in tropical forests. They are related to arthropods and annelids and have existed for up to 430 million years. They use streams of glue-like goo to ensnare prey and are popular exotic pets.
Velvet worms are bizarre creatures that live in leaf litter on tropical forest floors. They superficially resemble caterpillars and are called “legged worms,” but they are their own phylum, Onychophora, meaning “claw-bearing.” This is a reference to the small chitin claws on their stubbed feet. Growing between 0.5 and 50 cm (0.2 – 12.5 inches), with an average length of 5 cm (2 inches), velvet worms are segmented animals with between 13 and 43 pairs of legs.
Velvet worms come in a variety of colors, including brown, white, blue, gray, pink, and red. They share similarities with both arthropods (such as spiders) and annelids (such as earthworms), but are considered to be more closely related to arthropods, although they were thought to be more closely related to annelids for many decades. More distantly, they are related to nematodes and horsehair worms.
Velvet worms are believed to have existed in their current form for an extremely long time, perhaps as long as 430 million years, when the first animals settled on land. For much of history, velvet worms have lived all over the Earth, not just tropical regions. Velvet worm-like fossils, called lobopodians, have been found in Cambrian strata, up to 540 million years ago, showing that the lineage is very old. An early form, Hallucigenia, is one of the more fascinating organisms of the famous Burgess Shale Formation. Unlike modern-day velvet worms, Hallucingenia was covered in long spikes.
Velvet worms are carnivores with an unusual way of eating. They seek out prey (small insects) with their antennae, then barrage it with streams of glue-like goo dispensed from tubes on their heads. These streams cross each other, like a lasso around the victim. In a single attack, a large velvet worm can consume a small cup of sticky glue to ensnare its victim. The velvet worm has an impermeable body that is immune to the effects of glue, so once the target is ensnared, it simply ascends and injects digestive juices, devouring the dissolved victim. The glue also has a toxic effect that slows down the prey.
Because of their ancient ancestry, bizarre appearance, and unusual feeding habits, velvet worms have proven to be popular exotic pets.
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