Figure 1.
Distribution of onychophoran species in the Minas Gerais State of Brazil, including the three new species described herein.
A, Overview. Species localities numbered as follows: I, Reserva Particular do Patrimônio Natural (RPPN) Mata do Sossego (type locality of Epiperipatus diadenoproctus sp. nov.); II, Córrego dos Ferreiras (type locality of E. adenocryptus sp. nov.); III, Mata do Eremitério (type locality of E. paurognostus sp. nov.); IV, Rancho Primavera (additional locality of E. paurognostus sp. nov.); V, RPPN Feliciano Miguel Abdala (type locality of E. machadoi); VI, Estação Ecológica de Tripuí (type locality of E. acacioi); VII, Parque Estadual do Itacolomi (additional locality of E. acacioi). B, Diagram illustrating air-line distances between the localities of each species occurring in the Minas Gerais State.
Figure 2.
Body colour pattern in onychophoran specimens studied, exemplified by Epiperipatus diadenoproctus sp. nov.
Photographs (A–C) and ink drawings (D, E). A, Dorsal colour pattern in an anaesthetised specimen. B, Ventral colour pattern in the same specimen. Arrows point to the ventral organs. C, Detail of dorsal colour pattern. D, E, Diagrams showing slight variation of dorsal body colour pattern. D, Pattern with two pairs of large papillae in each circle. E, Pattern with either missing or a variable number of large papillae in each circle. Abbreviations: at, antenna; go, genital opening; mo, mouth.
Figure 3.
Diagrammatic arrangement of oral lips and plicae in onychophoran specimens studied.
A, Single unpaired and six paired lips (numbered). Anterior is up. B, Single unpaired and seven paired lips (numbered). Anterior is up. C, Arrangement of plicae (numbered) in lateral view. D, Arrangement of plicae (numbered) in dorsal view. Note two pairs of anastomosing plicae in each leg-bearing segment. Abbreviations: le, legs; ul, unpaired anterior lip.
Figure 4.
Arrangement of plicae and structure of dermal papillae in onychophoran specimens studied.
Scanning electron micrographs. A, Portion of dorsolateral integument in E. adenocryptus sp. nov. showing plical anastomoses. The plicae are numbered. Anterior is up, median is right. B, Dorsal primary papilla in E. adenocryptus sp. nov. showing five lateral (black dots) and seven anterior scale ranks (white dots) in the basal piece and four anterior scale ranks in the apical piece (asterisks). Anterior is up, median is left. Note the posteriorly displaced sensory bristle (arrow). C, Detail of an asymmetrical apical piece in E. paurognostus sp. nov. showing only two posterior scale ranks (asterisks) and a thorn-shaped and posteriorly displaced bristle. Abbreviations: ac, accessory papillae; ap, apical piece; bp, basal piece; br, sensory bristle; cs, constriction between apical and basal pieces; pp, primary papillae.
Figure 5.
Structure of spinous pads and male anal gland papillae in onychophoran specimens studied.
Light micrographs (A, C–E) and scanning electron micrograph (B). A, Leg from the mid-body of E. diadenoproctus sp. nov. in ventral view. Spinous pads are numbered. Note the presence of a fifth fragmented pad. B, Distal portion of fifth leg of E. paurognostus sp. nov. showing nephridial tubercle, complete fourth pad and fragmented fifth pad. C–E, Posterior ends in males of E. diadenoproctus sp. nov. (C), E. adenocryptus sp. nov. (D) and E. paurognostus sp. nov. (E) showing anal gland papillae (arrows). Note the well-developed, roundish anal gland papillae in E. diadenoproctus sp. nov. Abbreviation: ft, foot; nt, nephridial tubercle.
Table 1.
Numbers of leg pairs in specimens of each sex in the three new onychophoran species.
Figure 6.
Maximum Likelihood topology amongst onychophoran specimens from different localities.
Combined mitochondrial data sets (COI + 12S rRNA), with E. biolleyi as an outgroup. Bayesian posterior probabilities and bootstrap values are given in the following order: BI/NJ/ML//MP/Bremer/Relative Bremer index decay. Abbreviations: CS, Córrego dos Ferreiras; FM, RPPN Feliciano Miguel Abdala; ME, Mata do Eremitério; MS, RPPN Mata do Sossego.
Figure 7.
Haplotype networks for the COI sequences of Epiperipatus specimens from different localities.
Abbreviations as per Table 2. The connection probability was set to 95% (see ref. [48]). Each dot indicates one missing or unsampled haplotype. Two or more names in one frame represent identical genotypes.
Table 2.
Origin of onychophoran specimens sequenced and corresponding GenBank accession numbers.
Table 3.
Unambiguous synapomorphies (character states in parentheses) of each Epiperipatus species studied.
Table 4.
Number of specimens of new onychophoran species analysed from each locality.