Evolution of the Australian Onychophora

Morphological, chromosomal and behavioural diversification in the Australian velvet worms ('Peripatus').

The phylum Onychophora ('Velvet worms' or 'Peripatus') is of considerable scientific interest both because of its antiquity (there are fossils from the Burgess Shale, 540mya, that are strikingly similar to extant species) and its uncertain phylogenetic position.