biology

Ooperipatellus parvus

Ooperipatellus parvus is a biology topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Ooperipatellus parvus rather than just read about it. In short: Ooperipatellus parvus is a species of velvet worm in the family Peripatopsidae. Like all velvet worms in the genus Ooperipatellus, this species is oviparous, and like most species in this genus, this velvet worm features 14 pairs of legs.

Key takeaways

Ooperipatellus parvus belongs to biology; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Ooperipatellus parvus to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Ooperipatellus parvus from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Ooperipatellus parvus is a species of velvet worm in the family Peripatopsidae. Like all velvet worms in the genus Ooperipatellus, this species is oviparous, and like most species in this genus, this velvet worm features 14 pairs of legs. This velvet worm is found in Australia and is the only described species in this genus found in the state of South Australia.

Discovery This species was first described in 1996 by the Australian zoologist Amanda L. Reid. She based the original description of this species on a male holotype and ten paratypes (five females and five males). She and her colleague Anne Skates collected these specimens at three different sites in South Australia in 1994. They collected the holotype and five paratypes in Mylor by the Onkaparinga River at an elevation of 320 meters in the Mount Lofty Ranges, three more paratypes in Waterfall Gully in Cleland National Park at an elevation of 400 meters, and the other two paratypes in Carey Gully at an elevation of 480 meters in the Mount Lofty Ranges. The holotype and eight paratypes are deposited in the South Australian Museum in Adelaide, and the other two paratypes are deposited in the Australian Museum in Sydney.

Description The dorsal surface and antennae of this species are grayish blue, and the ventral pigment can be present, pale, or absent. Each antenna features 30 complete rings with alternating wider and narrower rings. The antennae can feature tan bands on alternate rings starting with the fifth ring from the base. The proximal rings expand on the ventral side to form sensory pads with two or three rows of bristles. The jaw features two blades, an inner blade with no diastema as well as an outer blade with no accessory teeth. This species features 14 pairs of legs with the last pair fully developed. The dorsal surface features 13 complete plicae (transverse ridges) between adjacent leg pairs. Each foot features thee spinous pads and three distal papillae (one anterior, one median, and one posterior), but no basal papillae. Crural glands extend from the legs into the body cavity from leg pair 6 through leg pair 13 in the male of this species, but the legs show no trace of crural papillae. The male gonopore is cruciform, with all four arms of the cross equal in length. The female features an ovipositor between the last pair of legs with a longitudinal slit as the gonopore. This species exhibits many of the traits that characterize the genus Ooperipatellus. For example, this species is oviparous, the ovipositor between the last pair of legs of the female features a longitudinal slit as the gonopore, and the male gonopore is cruciform. Furthermore, accessory teeth are absent from the outer jaw blade, and each foot features three distal papillae (one anterior, one median, and one posterior), but no basal papillae. This species shares an especially extensive set of traits with another species in the same genus, O. duwilensis, which is found in the adjacent state of Victoria in Australia. For example, each of these species features an inner jaw blade with no diastema, 14 leg pairs with the last pair fully developed, three spinous pads on each foot, and a male gonopore shaped like a cross with four arms of equal length. Furthermore, each antenna in both species features 30 complete rings with alternating wider and narrower rings, and the sensory pads on these antennae feature two or three rows of bristles. These two species can be distinguished, however, based on other traits. For example, crural glands extend into the body cavity only from leg pair 13 in O. duwilensis, whereas these glands extend into the body cavity from more leg pairs in O. parvus. Furthermore, crural papillae are visible on the ventral surface of the legs from leg pair 9 or 10 through leg pair 13 in O. duwilensis, but these papillae are not visible in O. parvus. Moreover, the dorsal surface between adjacent leg pairs features 13 complete plicae in O. parvus but only 12 complete plicae in O. duwilensis.

Distribution and habitat The species O. parvus is found in decaying logs. This velvet worm has a narrow range: This species is found only in South Australia, where this range extends from Waterfall Gully in Cleland National Park to Mylor in the Mount Lofty Ranges.

References

Further reading Reid, A. L. (1996). "Review of the Peripatopsidae (Onychophora) in Australia, with Comments on Peripatopsid Relationships". Invertebrate Taxonomy. 10 (4): 663–936. doi:10.1071/IT9960663.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Ooperipatellus parvus

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Ooperipatellus parvus claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In biology, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Ooperipatellus parvus before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Ooperipatellus parvus ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Ooperipatellus parvus

In research: Ooperipatellus parvus appears in biology research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Ooperipatellus parvus in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Ooperipatellus parvus is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Animals described in 1996, Onychophora of Oceania, Onychophora species, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Ooperipatellus parvus outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Ooperipatellus parvus in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Ooperipatellus parvus means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Ooperipatellus parvus out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Ooperipatellus parvus in simple terms?

Why does Ooperipatellus parvus matter?

Because it connects several biology ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Ooperipatellus parvus?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Ooperipatellus parvus.