FIVE species of velvet worms were discovered in and around the Garden Route National Park (GRNP) by independent researchers from the University of Stellenbosch, Aaron Barnes, Till Reiss and Savel Daniels.
Vuyiswa Thabethe, General Manager of the Garden Route National Park (GRNP) indicated that they have received the news with excitement and that “not only are we in the midst of age-old wonder creatures dating back as far as five million years ago, velvet worms thrive in pristine conditions only. Their existence in the forest point to how well the forests are managed under the GRNP. The forests are healthy and thriving.”
Areas of study by Barnes, Reiss and Daniels are mostly situated in the GRNP and surrounds, including Diepwalle, Goudveld, Groeneweide, Garden of Eden (Harkerville), Wilderness (Brown Hooded Kingfisher trail, Beervlei, Half Collared Kingfisher Trail, Woodville Big tree). Areas outside the Park include the Robinson’s pass, Witfontein, Jonkersberg, Homtini, Tulbagh. Velvet worm movement is highly restricted, explains Barnes. “They can only occur and move between pristine forest habitats, living within dead and rotting logs in Afrotemperate forests.”
The purpose of the study was to revise information previously collected through sampling efforts on the Cape species of velvet worms (Peripatopsis clavigera). A study in 2009 collected 8 samples only. The recently completed study in 2019 by Barnes, Reiss and Daniels sustainably collected some 110 odd samples focussing on large forest complex patches and surrounding farms. Another reason for the study was to understand the evolution of the species.
Female velvet worms have a placenta and give birth to live young who are fully developed. They are nocturnal, ambush predators that mostly prey on other invertebrates. To catch prey, they squirt a sticky slime from a pair of glands on their heads. Some species have a social structure led by matriarchs, much as elephants, who hunt together and leave a scent for others to follow their whereabouts.
Velvet worms are vulnerable to dehydration because of the way they breathe, which is why their environment has to be pristine and why they can’t move very far. The species are ranked as vulnerable in the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List.
ISSUED: SANPARKS
