A student in South Africa accidentally found a slate-black velvet worm last month. Further research revealed six other new species. Velvet worms are rare and have barely changed in millions of years, which is why they are also called living fossils.
The first worm was found under a pile of leaves at the edge of a river in Klein Karoo, an area in South Africa. It is a pitch-black specimen with a soft body. The worm was named Peripatopsis barnardi, after its discoverer.
Velvet worms are rare, but the animal has been around for over 500 million years. The worms have barely changed in all that time and are therefore called living fossils, researchers write. The creature moves slowly and eats other creatures. It catches them by shooting a kind of slime threads at its prey.
South African velvet worms mainly occur in the forests of the Cape mountains. This is the first velvet worm spotted in the area. According to researchers, the find indicates that Klein Karoo had much more forests long ago than it does now.
Due to climate change and drought, several worms became separated from each other, creating different species. DNA research shows that Peripatopsis barnardi split off from its common ancestor about 15 million years ago.
After further research in Klein Karoo, scientists found six other species of velvet worms.