What is "onychophora"

Onychophora \On`y*choph"o*ra\, n. pl. [NL., from Gr. ?, ?, a claw + ?.] (Zo["o]l.) Malacopoda.

Malacopoda \Mal`a*cop"o*da\, prop. n. pl. [NL., fr. Gr. malako`s soft + -poda.] (Zo["o]l.) A class of air-breathing Arthropoda; -- called also Protracheata, and Onychophora.

Note: They somewhat resemble myriapods, and have from seventeen to thirty-three pairs of short, imperfectly jointed legs, two pairs of simple jaws, and a pair of antenn[ae]. The tranche[ae] are connected with numerous spiracles scattered over the surface of the body. Peripatus is the only known genus. See Peripatus.

Velvet worms are ecdysozoan invertebrate animals of the phylum Onychophora (from Greek, onyches, "claws"; and pherein, "to carry") with approximately 200 species. These elongate, obscurely segmented organisms have tiny eyes, antennae, many pairs of legs, and slime glands. In appearance they have variously been compared to worms with legs, caterpillars, and slugs. Most common in tropical regions of the Southern Hemisphere, they prey on smaller animals such as insects, which they catch by squirting an adhesive mucus. The two extant families of velvet worms are Peripatidae and Peripatopsidae. They show a peculiar distribution, with the peripatids being predominantly equatorial and tropical, while the peripatopsids are all found in what used to be Gondwana.

Formerly considered part of Tracheata, velvet worms are now considered close relatives of the Arthropoda and Tardigrada, with which they form the taxon Panarthropoda. This makes them of palaeontological interest, as they can help reconstruct the ancestral arthropod. In modern zoology, they are particularly renowned for their curious mating behaviour and for bearing live young.