Grassveld velvet worms
Opisthopatus
Opisthopatus is a genus of South African velvet worms in the family Peripatopsidae. Velvet worms in this genus are found in South Africa, in the Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal, and Mpumalanga provinces, as well as in Lesotho and Eswatini. This genus was first proposed in 1899 by the zoologist William F. Purcell to contain the newly discovered species O. cinctipes, which he designated as the type species.
12 branches of this genus, most-observed first
Coastal velvet worm
speciesOpisthopatus kwazululandi
Common velvet worm
speciesOpisthopatus cinctipes
Camdeboo velvet worm
speciesOpisthopatus camdebooi
Xhosa velvet worm
speciesOpisthopatus amaxhosa
Rose velvet worm
speciesOpisthopatus roseus
Highveld velvet worm
speciesOpisthopatus highveldi
High Drakensberg velvet worm
speciesOpisthopatus drakensbergi
Swazi velvet worm
speciesOpisthopatus swatii
Opisthopatus amatolensis
speciesOpisthopatus amatolensis
Opisthopatus natalensis
speciesOpisthopatus natalensis
Opisthopatus laevis
speciesOpisthopatus laevis
Opisthopatus baziya
speciesOpisthopatus baziya
Where it lives
Recorded sightings
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geo-referenced records in GBIF, from museums, herbaria and field observers.
Drag the globe to turn it. Dots are where records exist, not a range map; darker means more records.
In the stacks
Searching the stacks…
Every page naming Opisthopatus in the Biodiversity Heritage Library →
This page is assembled live from iNaturalist, GBIF, Wikipedia, the Source Library and the Internet Archive. It is not yet part of the hand-edited codex. iNaturalist taxon 90487.