Posted on 06/10/2025 11:34:01 AM PDT by Red Badger
Peripatopsis barnardi represents the first ever species from the little Karoo, which indicates that the area was historically more forested than at present. It is one of seven new species from the Cape Fold Mountains described by researchers from Stellenbosch University. Credit: Savel Daniels A newly discovered velvet worm species is the first ever found in South Africa’s arid Karoo region.
In March 2022, Stellenbosch University student Rohan Barnard was exploring a farm in the Swartberg Mountains between Calitzdorp and Oudtshoorn, turning over rocks in search of ants, reptiles, and other small creatures. During his search, he made the discovery of a lifetime.
Hidden deep in the damp sand beneath a layer of leaf litter near a small river, he found a slate-black velvet worm. Aware of how rare these animals are, he collected a specimen and shared a photo of it on the biodiversity observation app iNaturalist.
“I had a basic knowledge of the Cape velvet worms, having found one for the first time on Table Mountain in 2019. My older brother was under assignment from his zoology lecturer, Prof. Savel Daniels, to collect velvet worms. With my interest in ants, I gladly assisted him in this task,” Rohan, now a third year BSc student in Conservation Ecology and Entomology, explains.
A living fossil from the Cambrian period
Velvet worms trace their lineage back more than 500 million years, making them living relics of the Cambrian period. With soft bodies and non-jointed legs, they have remained largely unchanged over time, earning the nickname “living fossils.”
At the time, Rohan had no idea he had discovered a new species of velvet worm, now fittingly named Rohan’s velvet worm, or Peripatopsis barnardi in scientific terms.
AUDIO AT LINK..................
Rohan Barnard describes his excitement when finding the velvet worm, and what it means to him to have such a special animal named after him. Credit: Rohan Barnard
New species reveals ancient climate history
What makes the discovery even more remarkable is that it is the first velvet worm species ever found in the Little Karoo. This suggests that the region was once more forested than it is today. Over time, prehistoric climate changes and increasing aridity caused the species to become isolated, eventually leading to its evolution into a distinct species.
According to Prof. Daniels, an evolutionary biologist from SU’s Department of Botany and Zoology and one of South Africa’s foremost specialists on velvet worms, it is utterly remarkable that such a prehistorical lineage is still around today. After viewing this rare find on iNaturalist, he visited the same area in July 2022 and collected a paratype and another nine specimens for analysis.
A new velvet worm species, Peripatopsis barnardi, is named after Rohan Barnard, currently a third year BSc student in Conservation Ecology and Entomology at Stellenbosch University. He found a specimen while looking for insects in an ancient forest patch in a kloof in the Swartberg Mountains. Credit: Stellenbosch University The results of his analysis and the announcement of seven new species of velvet worms, were published in the journal Ecology and Evolution recently. Daniels, the first author on the paper, says South Africa’s velvet worms are mainly found in prehistoric Afro temperate forest patches that persist in deep gorges in the Cape Fold Mountains
Climate shifts shaped today’s biodiversity
“The origin of these forest patches can be traced to the early Miocene, about 23 to 15 million years ago, when the region used to be temperate and sub-tropical. During the late Miocene, however, the region underwent significant climatic changes, with a decrease in rainfall due to the advent of the proto Benguela current along the West Coast, and two geotectonic uplifting events. These events resulted in a complex mosaic of habitat connectivity and isolation, what we know today as the Cape Fold Mountains, driving the speciation of habitat specialists such as velvet worms,” he explains.
Daniels used new mitochondrial and nuclear DNA sequencing techniques, combined with morphological analysis and scanning electron microscopy (SEM), to determine that P. barnardi diverged from its most recent common ancestor about 15.2 million years ago. Another novel finding from the Cederberg Mountains, P. cederbergiensis, can trace its lineage to 12.47 million years ago.
Citizen scientists help uncover hidden diversity
Daniels welcomes the efforts of citizen scientists to share their findings on biodiversity apps: “It is thanks to citizen science data that we were able to identify the new species. In the Cape Fold Mountains, we now know that every mountain peak has an endemic species. This suggests that in unsampled areas there are likely to be additional novel diversity, waiting to be found.”
Most importantly, though, it means that we must conserve these prehistoric forest fragments to limit extinction.
To Rohan, it still feels surreal to have such a fossil-like creature named after him: “It is incredible to realize that I’ve uncovered a living fossil. It is as if I have found a missing link that we did not even know about. It gives me hope that there is still so much left to discover. But it also makes me worried for the future, that we will lose animals and plants to extinction that we did not even know existed,” he warns.
The seven new species are P. fernkloofi, P. jonkershoeki, P. kogelbergi, P. landroskoppie, P. limietbergi and P. palmeri. Apart from P. barnardi, all the new species were named after their places of origin.
Why are velvet worms so unique?
Like the indestructible water bears (Tardigrades), modern velvet worms are looked on as a separate line of evolution (and placed in a distinct phylum) that arose independently from some long forgotten marine ancestor – probably the Hallicogenia. Fossils show that velvet worms have not changed much since they diverged from their ancient relative about 540 million years ago. This means Onycophorans have been living on Earth ever since what is called the Cambrian period of prehistory. Today, modern velvet worms live on land and are found only in damp, moist habitats in areas that were originally part of the ancient supercontinent Gondwana.
Reference:
“Perched on the Plateau: Speciation in a Cape Fold Mountain Velvet Worm Clade, With the Description of Seven New Species (Onychophora: Peripatopsidae: Peripatopsis) From South Africa”
by Savel R. Daniels and Aaron Barnes, 20 April 2025, Ecology and Evolution.
DOI: 10.1002/ece3.71256
The Worm has turned!...................UP!............
The Worm has turned!...................UP!............
Velvet worm... hold one underwater, it becomes a blue velvet worm...
Hold one un the dirt and it becomes a Velvet Underground................
Under a rock, hmm, Richard Gephardt?
It’s still alive?
Living under a rock is advantageous to longevity in Africa.................
That guy was such a Dick.
No random mutation in 500 million years.
It lives under a rock and doesn’t get out much.................kinda like Biden...............
Meh! Here in florida we find these things in the pool after it rains. Big deal.
That worm could be our descendant after the next asteroid....
Weird names:
Karoo, Stellenbosch, Rohan, Swartberg, Calitzdorp, Oudtshoorn, Peripatopsis
I’ve seen canadian cambrian burgess shale fossils that look like that worm.
here’s a pic
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/458452437041164800/
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