Peripatopsis barnardi represents the first ever species from the little Karoo, which indicates that the area was historically more forested than at present. It is one of seven new species from the ...

Researchers discovered a rare kind of protein modification in the slime of velvet worms, a finding that could one day help scientists make plastics and glues more recyclable. Velvet worms shoot sticky ...

In March 2022, Stellenbosch University (SU) student Rohan Barnard was out on a farm in the Swartberg Mountains between Calitzdorp and Oudtshoorn, flipping over rocks looking for ants, reptiles and ...

Imagine a caterpillar with soft, fancy, velvety skin; that’s what a velvet worm looks like. However, unlike most caterpillars, these worms are fierce carnivores. They hunt by shooting sticky slime to ...

A new discovery about the slime ejected by velvet worms could revolutionize sustainable material design, according to a study by McGill University researchers. Their findings outline how a naturally ...

Outside the bustling city of Quito, Ecuador, the Tiputini Biodiversity Station sits in the middle of acres of undisturbed rainforest. The site is in the foothills of the Andes and represents one of ...

A peculiar predator skulks across the forest floor. It’s dreadfully slow, but the cover of darkness — and leaf litter — keeps it hidden. It glides along dozens of stumpy legs, but it’s no centipede: ...

The velvet worm, a squishy little predator that looks like the stretch-limo version of a caterpillar, has a whimsical MO: it administers death by Silly String. In the leaf litter of tropical and ...

A discovery by international researchers suggests slime produced by Australian velvet worms could underpin new sustainable materials. A mucous-like substance from bizarre creatures known as velvet ...

The soft and elusive velvet worm might look like a pretty caterpillar. But its brain is strikingly similar to that of a spider, new international research shows. The architecture of the worm's brain ...

Of all the bugs New Zealanders could have selected to win an international competition, they chose neither the prettiest, nor the most useful. The NZ velvet worm won this year’s New Zealand Bug of the ...

A new species of velvet worm, Peripatopsis barnardi, represents the first ever species from the arid Karoo, which indicates that the area was likely historically more forested than at present. In the ...