The velvet worm Eoperipatus totoro

    




When scientists first saw this little velvet worm, they remembered an old anime film "My neighbor Totoro" and they gave him the name Eoperipatus totoro. Endemic to Vietnam, only growing up to six inches in length and living in the forest litter that looks something like the cat Bus, a character in the famous film: many pairs of legs, soft, like plush, the hairs covering the entire body of the worm.





However, in contrast to the good and innocent of the Bus, the velvet worm Eoperipatus totoro is a very skilled hunter and voracious predator. Two long appendages at the sides of his mouth, he shoots a viscous liquid, which like the network envelops the victim, leaving her no chance for salvation. This kind of adhesive web composed of proteins and literally envelops the small spiders, crickets and termites, which it feeds the velvet worm.





Like all representatives of the type of anafor, or velvet worms, Eoperipatus totoro at the same time similar to the mollusk, the caterpillar and centipede. Most of my life velvet worms spend in the ground, under rocks or inside rotting stumps, and the surface is selected only during the rainy season. Even then, however, notice them in covering the ground withered leaves, it is not so easy.

Slowly moving with 23 pairs of short legs, stepping out of sync, Eoperipatus totoro often attract the attention of larger predators. However, hard skin and sticky "spitting" overtakes the victim at a distance of 30 cm, to protect him from possible trouble.





Source: zoopicture.ru