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New Zealand Peripatus
Peripatoides novaezealandiae
About
A velvet worm native to New Zealand, representing one of the most ancient terrestrial animal lineages. Although not an insect, it is closely related and is a fascinating part of New Zealand's invertebrate fauna. It captures prey by shooting streams of sticky slime.
Did You Know?
Velvet worms shoot jets of quick-hardening slime up to 30 centimetres to entangle prey, a hunting technique virtually unchanged for hundreds of millions of years.