What is "peripatus"

Peripatus \Pe*rip"a*tus\, n. [NL., fr. Gr. ? a walking about.] (Zo["o]l.) A genus of lowly organized arthropods, found in South Africa, Australia, and tropical America. It constitutes the order Malacopoda.

n. (context zoology English) Any onychophoran of the genus ''Peripatus''

n. any of numerous velvety-skinned wormlike carnivorous animals common in tropical forests having characteristics of both arthropods and annelid worms [syn: onychophoran, velvet worm]

Peripatus is a genus of velvet worms. The name peripatus (unitalicized) is also used to refer to the Onychophora as a whole, although this group comprises at least 48 other genera besides Peripatus.