Talk:Velvet worm

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WikiProject Echo has identified Velvet worm as a foreign language featured article. You may be able to improve this article with information from the German language Wikipedia.

These are the most amazing animals. To think that there are no living marine species, wow! Check out Hallucigenia, a possible extinct relative.

Contents 1 Translation from German 2 Placenta? 3 No class or order? 4 Translation still in progress 5 How about a line drawing? 6 Translation Complete! 7 Segmented?

[edit] Translation from German

There is an excellent (and acknowledged as such) article on these creatures at the German wikipedia. I've started a translation but it may take a while because the article is enormous and contains a lot of technical detail. Yummifruitbat 00:44, 14 November 2005 (UTC)

Just to update, I got about 6 paragraphs into the translation and then my real life workload picked up pretty heavily. I'd sort of forgotten about this until Richard001 asked me whether I was still working on it. The answer is, currently, no, but I'd like to pick it back up again when I've finished uni which will be in about 2 months' time. I'll make it a priority then, but in the mean time if someone else wants to tackle it I won't protest. Sorry to have left it for so long. --YFB ¿ 12:44, 27 April 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Placenta?

Onychophorans are among the few animals other than mammals with placentas. Most species, including Epiperipatus biolleyi, give live birth. (National Geographic, October 1993, p. 136)

What are the other non-mammal animals to have placentas? This is amazing! -- Toytoy 14:19, 26 November 2005 (UTC)

Is this actually true? Why isn't it in the article? The Jade Knight 00:11, 13 March 2006 (UTC)

I saw these paragraphs in the German Wiki ():

• Echt lebendgebärende Arten finden sich in beiden Familien, besonders in tropischen Regionen mit einem über das Jahr hinweg stabilen Klima und gleichmäßigem Nahrungsangebot. Die sich aus den nur mikrometergroßen Eiern entwickelnden Embryonen werden im Uterus von ihrer Mutter ernährt; sie werden daher als matrotroph bezeichnet. Die Versorgung erfolgt entweder durch mütterliche Sekretabgabe in den Uterus oder durch eine echte Gewebeverbindung zwischen dem Gebärmutterepithel und dem heranwachsenden Embryo, eine so genannte Plazenta. Ersteres kommt nur außerhalb des amerikanischen Kontinents vor, letzteres findet sich in erster Linie in Amerika und der Karibik, seltener in der alten Welt. Die Tragzeit, an deren Ende die Jungtiere bereits weitgehend entwickelt geboren werden, kann bis zu 15 Monate betragen. Die im Uterus eines Weibchens vorfindlichen Embryonen müssen nicht notwendigerweise gleichaltrig sein; es kann durchaus vorkommen, dass sich dort zahlreiche unterschiedlich entwickelte Tiere finden, die zudem von verschiedenen Männchen abstammen.

• Die Peripatopsidae weisen verhältnismäßig viele als ursprünglich oder "primitiv" eingeschätzte Merkmale auf. Sie besitzen 13 bis 25 Beinpaare; hinter oder zwischen dem letzten davon befindet sich die Geschlechtsöffnung (Gonopore). Sowohl eierlegende (ovipare), eierlebendgebärende (ovovivipare) als auch echt lebendgebärende (vivipare) Arten kommen vor, eine Plazenta besitzen Peripatopsidae allerdings grundsätzlich nicht. Ihr Verbreitungsgebiet liegt zirkumaustral in Australien und Tasmanien, Neuseeland, Neu-Guinea, Südafrika und Chile.

• Die Peripatidae zeigen eine Reihe von abgeleiteten Merkmalen. Von größerer Durchschnittslänge als die Peripatopsidae besitzen sie auch mehr Beinpaare: Deren Zahl variiert innerhalb der Gruppe zwischen 22 und 43; die Gonopore liegt immer zwischen dem vorletzten davon. Ovipare Arten gibt es bei den Peripatidae nicht, die weitaus überwiegende Anzahl ist vivipar. Bei vielen Weibchen der letzteren Gruppe bildet sich eine Plazenta aus, die den heranwachsenden Embryo mit Nährstoffen versorgt. Vorkommen der Peripatidae sind auf die tropische und subtropische Zone beschränkt; im Einzelnen kommen sie in Mittel- und im nördlichen Südamerika sowie auf mehreren karibischen Inseln vor, daneben auch in Westafrika, Nordindien, Malaysia und einzelnen indonesischen Inseln.

Sorry, my German is not that good. -- Toytoy 12:42, 13 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] No class or order?

Have a class and order been named for the phylum's taxonomy? If not, why not? Aren't order and class standard ranks that are always added? The phylum Placozoa has only one family with one species, but they still made an order and class for it. So where are these for Onychophora? Jerkov 17:29, 26 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Translation still in progress

As noted above, I've been working intermittently on a translation of the Featured Article on this subject from the German Wikipedia. I've got a bit more done of late and my progress so far can be seen in my sandbox. I'm going to hold off merging it until it's completed, but any wikifying etc. that people might feel like doing while it's still in the sandbox would be very welcome. Once again, sorry for the long drag - I'll get there eventually, honest! --YFB ¿ 02:33, 9 August 2007 (UTC)

I've wikified the classification section as best I could, replacing the Latin taxon names with the usual English ones, and assumed the dagger meant the taxon was extinct. (I haven't bothered doing it for subtaxa since that's kind of implicit :) And wow, Peripatopsidae has a lot of genera!) Hairy Dude 00:34, 16 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] How about a line drawing?

Thanks for the picture, but how about a labeled line drawing of the beastie? I'm having trouble envisioning its segmented head. The Sanity Inspector 18:57, 9 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Translation Complete!

I've finally finished the translation from the German "exzellentes Artikel" that I've been tackling on-and-off since May last year. I've tried to make it as literal a translation as possible but have made adjustments where necessary to make the English more natural. There are probably quite a few errors so corrections are welcome! Cheers, --YFB ¿ 19:12, 1 March 2008 (UTC)

Thanks, it's much better than before! It does need some tweaking though, especially about the annelid/arthropod relationships. When I get the time I'll go through and edit it for those things and grammar. KarlM (talk) 15:43, 2 March 2008 (UTC)

Great, look forward to seeing your edits. The phylogeny and taxonomy sections were a bit beyond my level of expertise so I'm pretty sure I've used the wrong terms in places. Thanks, --YFB ¿ 18:10, 2 March 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Segmented?

Here's an excerpt from Stephen Jay Gould's essay The Reversal of Hallucigenia:

About eighty species of living onychophorans have been described... ...They are elongated, soft bodied, and unsegmented (the ringlike "annulations" on antennae, legs, and sometimes on the trunk are superficial and do not indicate the presence of segments, or true divisions of the body).

--Roivas (talk) 21:43, 8 May 2008 (UTC)