Misplaced Pages

Onychophora

Article snapshot taken from Wikipedia with creative commons attribution-sharealike license. Give it a read and then ask your questions in the chat. We can research this topic together.

In physics , a fluid is a liquid , gas , or other material that may continuously move and deform ( flow ) under an applied shear stress , or external force. They have zero shear modulus , or, in simpler terms, are substances which cannot resist any shear force applied to them.

#847152

106-679: Onychophora / ɒ n ɪ ˈ k ɒ f ə r ə / (from Ancient Greek : ονυχής , onyches , "claws"; and φέρειν , pherein , "to carry"), commonly known as velvet worms (for their velvety texture and somewhat wormlike appearance) or more ambiguously as peripatus / p ə ˈ r ɪ p ə t ə s / (after the first described genus, Peripatus ), is a phylum of elongate, soft-bodied, many-legged animals . In appearance they have variously been compared to worms with legs, caterpillars, and slugs. They prey upon other invertebrates, which they catch by ejecting an adhesive slime. Approximately 200 species of velvet worms have been described, although

212-543: A pitch accent . In Modern Greek, all vowels and consonants are short. Many vowels and diphthongs once pronounced distinctly are pronounced as /i/ ( iotacism ). Some of the stops and glides in diphthongs have become fricatives , and the pitch accent has changed to a stress accent . Many of the changes took place in the Koine Greek period. The writing system of Modern Greek, however, does not reflect all pronunciation changes. The examples below represent Attic Greek in

318-422: A cuticula but instead consists only of a single layer of epithelial tissue, which does not exhibit conspicuous indentation as is found in other animals. On entering the central intestine, food particles are coated with a mucus-based peritrophic membrane , which serves to protect the lining of the intestine from damage by sharp-edged particles. The intestinal epithelium secretes further digestive enzymes and absorbs

424-461: A firm foothold on uneven terrain. Each claw is composed of three stacked elements, like Russian nesting dolls . The outermost is shed during ecdysis, which exposes the next element, which is fully formed and so does not need time to harden before it is used. This distinctive construction identifies many early Cambrian fossils as early offshoots of the onychophoran lineage. Apart from the pairs of legs, there are three further body appendages, which are at

530-761: A foot, although accuracy drops with range. It is not clear to what extent the range varies with the species and other factors. One squirt usually suffices to snare a prey item, although larger prey may be further immobilised by smaller squirts targeted at the limbs; additionally, the fangs of spiders are sometimes targeted. Upon ejection, it forms a net of threads about twenty microns in diameter, with evenly spaced droplets of viscous adhesive fluid along their length. It subsequently dries, shrinking, losing its stickiness, and becoming brittle. Onychophora eat their dried slime when they can, which seems provident, since an onychophoran requires about 24 days to replenish an exhausted slime repository. The slime can account for up to 11% of

636-477: A lack of contemporaneous evidence. Several theories exist about what Hellenic dialect groups may have existed between the divergence of early Greek-like speech from the common Proto-Indo-European language and the Classical period. They have the same general outline but differ in some of the detail. The only attested dialect from this period is Mycenaean Greek , but its relationship to the historical dialects and

742-578: A large prey item may take almost all of their mucus -secreting capacity. They feed on almost any small invertebrates, including woodlice ( Isopoda ), termites ( Isoptera ), crickets ( Gryllidae ), book/bark lice ( Psocoptera ), cockroaches ( Blattidae ), millipedes and centipedes ( Myriapoda ), spiders ( Araneae ), various worms, and even large snails ( Gastropoda ). Depending on their size, they eat on average every one to four weeks. They are considered to be ecologically equivalent to centipedes ( Chilopoda ). The most energetically favourable prey are two-fifths

848-419: A lesser degree. Pamphylian Greek , spoken in a small area on the southwestern coast of Anatolia and little preserved in inscriptions, may be either a fifth major dialect group, or it is Mycenaean Greek overlaid by Doric, with a non-Greek native influence. Regarding the speech of the ancient Macedonians diverse theories have been put forward, but the epigraphic activity and the archaeological discoveries in

954-408: A limited role in oxygen transport. Two different types of blood cells (or haemocytes) circulate in the fluid: Amoebocytes and nephrocytes. The amoebocytes probably function in protection from bacteria and other foreign bodies; in some species, they also play a role in reproduction . Nephrocytes absorb toxins or convert them into a form suitable for elimination by the nephridia. The haemocoel

1060-550: A prefix /e-/, called the augment . This was probably originally a separate word, meaning something like "then", added because tenses in PIE had primarily aspectual meaning. The augment is added to the indicative of the aorist, imperfect, and pluperfect, but not to any of the other forms of the aorist (no other forms of the imperfect and pluperfect exist). The two kinds of augment in Greek are syllabic and quantitative. The syllabic augment

1166-479: A pseudocoel is not fully enclosed by a cell layer derived from the embryonic mesoderm . A coelom is, however, formed around the gonads and the waste-eliminating nephridia . As the name haemocoel suggests, the body cavity is filled with a blood -like liquid in which all the organs are embedded; in this way, they can be easily supplied with nutrients circulating in the blood. This liquid is colourless as it does not contain pigments ; for this reason, it serves only

SECTION 10

#1732776127848

1272-541: A range of pigments. The solubility of these pigments is a useful diagnostic character: in all arthropods and tardigrades, the body pigment is soluble in ethanol. This is also true for the Peripatidae, but in the case of the Peripatopsidae, the body pigment is insoluble in ethanol. Within the connective tissue lie three continuous layers of unspecialised smooth muscular tissue. The relatively thick outer layer

1378-461: A resting state. The Onychophora forcefully squirt glue-like slime from their oral papillae; they do so either in defense against predators or to capture prey. The openings of the glands that produce the slime are in the papillae, a pair of highly modified limbs on the sides of the head below the antennae. Inside, they have a syringe-like system that, by a geometric amplifier, allows for fast squirt using slow muscular contraction. High speed films show

1484-415: A rigid exoskeleton . Instead, their fluid-filled body cavity acts as a hydrostatic skeleton, similarly to many distantly related soft-bodied animals that are cylindrically shaped, for example sea anemones and various worms . Pressure of their incompressible internal bodily fluid on the body wall provides rigidity, and muscles are able to act against it. The body wall consists of a non-cellular outer skin,

1590-608: A separate historical stage, though its earliest form closely resembles Attic Greek , and its latest form approaches Medieval Greek . There were several regional dialects of Ancient Greek; Attic Greek developed into Koine. Ancient Greek was a pluricentric language , divided into many dialects. The main dialect groups are Attic and Ionic , Aeolic , Arcadocypriot , and Doric , many of them with several subdivisions. Some dialects are found in standardized literary forms in literature , while others are attested only in inscriptions. There are also several historical forms. Homeric Greek

1696-502: A small pouch that is connected, via a flagellated conductor called a nephridioduct, to an opening at the base of the nearest leg known as a nephridiopore. The pouch is occupied by special cells called podocytes , which facilitate ultrafiltration of the blood through the partition between haemocoelom and nephridium. The composition of the urinary solution is modified in the nephridioduct by selective recovery of nutrients and water and by isolation of poison and waste materials, before it

1802-575: A solid when a sudden force is applied. Substances with a very high viscosity such as pitch appear to behave like a solid (see pitch drop experiment ) as well. In particle physics , the concept is extended to include fluidic matters other than liquids or gases. A fluid in medicine or biology refers to any liquid constituent of the body ( body fluid ), whereas "liquid" is not used in this sense. Sometimes liquids given for fluid replacement , either by drinking or by injection, are also called fluids (e.g. "drink plenty of fluids"). In hydraulics , fluid

1908-477: A solid, shear stress is a function of strain , but in a fluid, shear stress is a function of strain rate . A consequence of this behavior is Pascal's law which describes the role of pressure in characterizing a fluid's state. The behavior of fluids can be described by the Navier–Stokes equations —a set of partial differential equations which are based on: The study of fluids is fluid mechanics , which

2014-630: A standard subject of study in educational institutions of the Western world since the Renaissance . This article primarily contains information about the Epic and Classical periods of the language, which are the best-attested periods and considered most typical of Ancient Greek. From the Hellenistic period ( c.  300 BC ), Ancient Greek was followed by Koine Greek , which is regarded as

2120-474: A strong selection for a low cost-benefit ratio, which cannot be achieved with a herbivorous diet. Velvet worms literally creep up on their prey, with their smooth, gradual and fluid movement escaping detection. Once they reach their prey, they touch it very softly with their antennae to assess its size and nutritional value. After each poke, the antenna is hastily retracted to avoid alerting the prey. This investigation may last anywhere upwards of ten seconds, until

2226-510: A vowel or /n s r/ ; final stops were lost, as in γάλα "milk", compared with γάλακτος "of milk" (genitive). Ancient Greek of the classical period also differed in both the inventory and distribution of original PIE phonemes due to numerous sound changes, notably the following: The pronunciation of Ancient Greek was very different from that of Modern Greek . Ancient Greek had long and short vowels ; many diphthongs ; double and single consonants; voiced, voiceless, and aspirated stops ; and

SECTION 20

#1732776127848

2332-570: Is a literary form of Archaic Greek (derived primarily from Ionic and Aeolic) used in the epic poems , the Iliad and the Odyssey , and in later poems by other authors. Homeric Greek had significant differences in grammar and pronunciation from Classical Attic and other Classical-era dialects. The origins, early form and development of the Hellenic language family are not well understood because of

2438-484: Is a pair of retractable, hardened (sclerotised) chitin claws, which give the taxon its scientific name: Onychophora is derived from the Ancient Greek : ονυχής , onyches , "claws"; and φέρειν , pherein , "to carry". At the base of the claws are three to six spiny "cushions" on which the leg sits in its resting position and on which the animal walks over smooth substrates. The claws are used mainly to gain

2544-972: Is a term which refers to liquids with certain properties, and is broader than (hydraulic) oils. Fluids display properties such as: These properties are typically a function of their inability to support a shear stress in static equilibrium . By contrast, solids respond to shear either with a spring-like restoring force —meaning that deformations are reversible—or they require a certain initial stress before they deform (see plasticity ). Solids respond with restoring forces to both shear stresses and to normal stresses , both compressive and tensile . By contrast, ideal fluids only respond with restoring forces to normal stresses, called pressure : fluids can be subjected both to compressive stress—corresponding to positive pressure—and to tensile stress, corresponding to negative pressure . Solids and liquids both have tensile strengths, which when exceeded in solids creates irreversible deformation and fracture, and in liquids cause

2650-418: Is added to stems beginning with consonants, and simply prefixes e (stems beginning with r , however, add er ). The quantitative augment is added to stems beginning with vowels, and involves lengthening the vowel: Some verbs augment irregularly; the most common variation is e → ei . The irregularity can be explained diachronically by the loss of s between vowels, or that of the letter w , which affected

2756-666: Is called 'East Greek'. Arcadocypriot apparently descended more closely from the Mycenaean Greek of the Bronze Age. Boeotian Greek had come under a strong Northwest Greek influence, and can in some respects be considered a transitional dialect, as exemplified in the poems of the Boeotian poet Pindar who wrote in Doric with a small Aeolic admixture. Thessalian likewise had come under Northwest Greek influence, though to

2862-410: Is composed of annular muscles, and the similarly voluminous inner layer of longitudinal muscles. Between them lie thin diagonal muscles that wind backward and forward along the body axis in a spiral . Between the annular and diagonal muscles exist fine blood vessels , which lie below the superficially recognisable transverse rings of the skin and are responsible for the pseudo-segmented markings. Beneath

2968-448: Is considered by some linguists to have been closely related to Greek . Among Indo-European branches with living descendants, Greek is often argued to have the closest genetic ties with Armenian (see also Graeco-Armenian ) and Indo-Iranian languages (see Graeco-Aryan ). Ancient Greek differs from Proto-Indo-European (PIE) and other Indo-European languages in certain ways. In phonotactics , ancient Greek words could end only in

3074-468: Is divided by a horizontal partition, the diaphragm, into two parts: The pericardial sinus along the back and the perivisceral sinus along the belly. The former encloses the tube-like heart, and the latter, the other organs. The diaphragm is perforated in many places, enabling the exchange of fluids between the two cavities. The heart itself is a tube of annular muscles consisting of epithelial tissues, with two lateral openings ( ostia ) per segment. While it

3180-423: Is excreted to the outside world via the nephridiopore. The most important nitrogenous excretion product is the water-insoluble uric acid ; this can be excreted in solid state, with very little water. This so-called uricotelic excretory mode represents an adjustment to life on land and the associated necessity of dealing economically with water. A pair of former nephridia in the head were converted secondarily into

3286-401: Is helped by the oxygen carrier hemocyanin . The digestive tract begins slightly behind the head, the mouth lying on the underside a little way from the frontmost point of the body. Here, prey can be mechanically dismembered by the mandibles with their covering of fine toothlets. Two salivary glands discharge via a common conductor into the subsequent "throat", which makes up the first part of

Onychophora - Misplaced Pages Continue

3392-412: Is located on the rear ventral side. Both the gonads and the gonoduct are derived from true coelom tissue. In females, the two ovaries are joined in the middle and to the horizontal diaphragm. The gonoduct appears differently depending on whether the species is live-bearing or egg-laying . In live-bearing species, each exit channel divides into a slender oviduct and a roomy "womb", the uterus , in which

3498-448: Is not known whether the rear end is open or closed, from the front, it opens directly into the body cavity. Since there are no blood vessels, apart from the fine vessels running between the muscle layers of the body wall and a pair of arteries that supply the antennae, this is referred to as an open circulation . The timing of the pumping procedure can be divided into two parts: Diastole and systole . During diastole, blood flows through

3604-423: Is often inconspicuously coloured orange, red or brown, but sometimes also bright green, blue, gold or white, and occasionally patterned with other colours. Segmentation is outwardly inconspicuous, and identifiable by the regular spacing of the pairs of legs and in the regular arrangement of skin pores, excretion organs and concentrations of nerve cells . The individual body sections are largely unspecialised ; even

3710-556: Is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek ( c.  1400–1200 BC ), Dark Ages ( c.  1200–800 BC ), the Archaic or Epic period ( c.  800–500 BC ), and the Classical period ( c.  500–300 BC ). Ancient Greek was the language of Homer and of fifth-century Athenian historians, playwrights, and philosophers . It has contributed many words to English vocabulary and has been

3816-487: Is on average around 75 bundles per body segment; they accumulate most densely on the back of the organism. Unlike the arthropods, the velvet worms are unable to control the openings of their tracheae; the tracheae are always open, entailing considerable water loss in arid conditions. Water is lost twice as fast as in earthworms and forty times faster than in caterpillars. For this reason, velvet worms are dependent upon habitats with high air humidity. Oxygen transport

3922-419: Is provided by the hydrostatic pressure of their fluid contents, and movement is usually obtained passively by stretching and contraction of the animal's entire body. However, each leg can also be shortened and bent by internal muscles . Due to the lack of joints, this bending can take place at any point along the sides of the leg. In some species, two different organs are found within the feet: On each foot

4028-507: Is quickly established among individuals from a single group, but not among organisms from different groups; these are substantially more aggressive and very rarely climb one another or form aggregates. Individuals within an individual log are usually closely related; especially so with males. This may be related to the intense aggression between unrelated females. Velvet worms are ambush predators , hunting only by night , and are able to capture animals at least their own size, although capturing

4134-409: Is raised relatively high above the ground, and they walk with non-overlapping steps. To move from place to place, the velvet worm crawls forward using its legs; unlike in arthropods, both legs of a pair are moved simultaneously. The claws of the feet are used only on hard, rough terrain where a firm grip is needed; on soft substrates, such as moss, the velvet worm walks on the foot cushions at the base of

4240-417: Is responsible for the high flexibility of the outer skin, which enables the velvet worm to squeeze itself into the narrowest crevices. Although outwardly water-repellent , the cuticula is not able to prevent water loss by respiration , and, as a result, velvet worms can live only in microclimates with high humidity to avoid desiccation . The surface of the cuticula is scattered with numerous fine papillae,

4346-544: Is subdivided into fluid dynamics and fluid statics depending on whether the fluid is in motion. Depending on the relationship between shear stress and the rate of strain and its derivatives , fluids can be characterized as one of the following: Newtonian fluids follow Newton's law of viscosity and may be called viscous fluids . Fluids may be classified by their compressibility: Newtonian and incompressible fluids do not actually exist, but are assumed to be for theoretical settlement. Virtual fluids that completely ignore

Onychophora - Misplaced Pages Continue

4452-419: Is then pressed against the female's genitals. In these species the head have elaborate structures like spikes, spines, hollow stylets, pits, and depressions, whose purpose is to either hold the sperm and / or assist in the sperm transfer to the female. The males of most species also secrete a pheromone from glands on the underside of the legs to attract females. Velvet worms live in all tropical habitats and in

4558-528: Is variable, more legs. The females of many species are fertilized only once during their lives, which leads to copulation sometimes taking place before the reproductive organs of the females are fully developed. In such cases, for example at the age of three months in Macroperipatus torquatus , the transferred sperm cells are kept in a special reservoir , where they can remain viable for longer periods. Fertilization takes place internally , although

4664-681: The Arthropoda and Tardigrada , with which they form the proposed taxon Panarthropoda . This makes them of palaeontological interest, as they can help reconstruct the ancestral arthropod. Only two fossil species are confidently assigned as onychophorans: Antennipatus from the Late Carboniferous , and Cretoperipatus from the Late Cretaceous , the latter belonging to Peripatidae. In modern zoology , they are particularly renowned for their curious mating behaviours and

4770-759: The Greek region of Macedonia during the last decades has brought to light documents, among which the first texts written in Macedonian , such as the Pella curse tablet , as Hatzopoulos and other scholars note. Based on the conclusions drawn by several studies and findings such as Pella curse tablet , Emilio Crespo and other scholars suggest that ancient Macedonian was a Northwest Doric dialect , which shares isoglosses with its neighboring Thessalian dialects spoken in northeastern Thessaly . Some have also suggested an Aeolic Greek classification. The Lesbian dialect

4876-665: The Northern Hemisphere when conditions were more suitable. Velvet worms always sparsely occupy the habitats where they are found: They are rare among the fauna which they are a part of. All extant velvet worms are terrestrial (land-living) and prefer dark environments with high air humidity. They are found particularly in the rainforests of the tropics and temperate zones, where they live among moss cushions and leaf litter , under tree trunks and stones, in rotting wood or in termite tunnels. They also occur in unforested grassland , if there exist sufficient crevices in

4982-752: The bearing of live young in some species. Velvet worms are segmented animals with a flattened cylindrical body cross-section and rows of unstructured body appendages known as oncopods or lobopods (informally: stub feet). They reach lengths between 0.1 and 22 cm (0.04–8.66 in) depending on species, with the smallest known being Ooperipatellus nanus and the largest known is Mongeperipatus solorzanoi . The number of leg pairs ranges from as few as 13 (in Ooperipatellus nanus ) to as many as 43 (in Plicatoperipatus jamaicensis ). Their skin consists of numerous, fine transverse rings and

5088-556: The cuticula ; a single layer of epidermis cells forming an internal skin; and beneath this, usually three layers of muscle, which are embedded in connective tissues. The cuticula is about a micrometer thick and covered with fine villi . In composition and structure, it resembles the cuticula of the arthropods, consisting of α-chitin and various proteins , although not containing collagen . It can be divided into an external epicuticula and an internal procuticula, which themselves consist of exo- and endo-cuticula. This multi-level structure

5194-501: The present , future , and imperfect are imperfective in aspect; the aorist , present perfect , pluperfect and future perfect are perfective in aspect. Most tenses display all four moods and three voices, although there is no future subjunctive or imperative. Also, there is no imperfect subjunctive, optative or imperative. The infinitives and participles correspond to the finite combinations of tense, aspect, and voice. The indicative of past tenses adds (conceptually, at least)

5300-695: The temperate zone of the Southern Hemisphere , showing a circumtropical and circumaustral distribution. Individual species are found in Central and South America ; the Caribbean islands; equatorial West Africa and Southern Africa ; northeastern India ; Thailand ; Indonesia and parts of Malaysia ; New Guinea ; Australia ; and New Zealand . Fossils have been found in Baltic amber , indicating that they were formerly more widespread in

5406-1031: The 5th century BC. Ancient pronunciation cannot be reconstructed with certainty, but Greek from the period is well documented, and there is little disagreement among linguists as to the general nature of the sounds that the letters represent. /oː/ raised to [uː] , probably by the 4th century BC. Greek, like all of the older Indo-European languages , is highly inflected. It is highly archaic in its preservation of Proto-Indo-European forms. In ancient Greek, nouns (including proper nouns) have five cases ( nominative , genitive , dative , accusative , and vocative ), three genders ( masculine , feminine , and neuter ), and three numbers (singular, dual , and plural ). Verbs have four moods ( indicative , imperative , subjunctive , and optative ) and three voices (active, middle, and passive ), as well as three persons (first, second, and third) and various other forms. Verbs are conjugated through seven combinations of tenses and aspect (generally simply called "tenses"):

SECTION 50

#1732776127848

5512-495: The Archaic period of ancient Greek (see Homeric Greek for more details): Μῆνιν ἄειδε, θεά, Πηληϊάδεω Ἀχιλῆος οὐλομένην, ἣ μυρί' Ἀχαιοῖς ἄλγε' ἔθηκε, πολλὰς δ' ἰφθίμους ψυχὰς Ἄϊδι προΐαψεν ἡρώων, αὐτοὺς δὲ ἑλώρια τεῦχε κύνεσσιν οἰωνοῖσί τε πᾶσι· Διὸς δ' ἐτελείετο βουλή· ἐξ οὗ δὴ τὰ πρῶτα διαστήτην ἐρίσαντε Ἀτρεΐδης τε ἄναξ ἀνδρῶν καὶ δῖος Ἀχιλλεύς. The beginning of Apology by Plato exemplifies Attic Greek from

5618-551: The Caribbean, but for others, conversion of rainforests is likely one of the most important threats to their survival (see Conservation ). Velvet worms are photophobic: They are repelled by bright light sources. Because the danger of desiccation is greatest during the day and in dry weather, it is not surprising that velvet worms are usually most active at night and during rainy weather. Under cold or dry conditions, they actively seek out crevices in which they shift their body into

5724-748: The Classical period of ancient Greek. (The second line is the IPA , the third is transliterated into the Latin alphabet using a modern version of the Erasmian scheme .) Ὅτι [hóti Hóti μὲν men mèn ὑμεῖς, hyːmêːs hūmeîs,   Fluid Although the term fluid generally includes both the liquid and gas phases, its definition varies among branches of science . Definitions of solid vary as well, and depending on field, some substances can have both fluid and solid properties. Non-Newtonian fluids like Silly Putty appear to behave similar to

5830-419: The animal expelling two streams of adhesive liquid through a small opening (50–200 microns ) at a speed of 3 to 5 m/s (10 to 20 ft/s). The interplay between the elasticity of oral papillae and the fast unsteady flow produces a passive oscillatory motion (30–60 Hz) of the oral papillae. The oscillation causes the streams to cross in mid air, weaving a disordered net; the velvet worms can control only

5936-550: The aorist. Following Homer 's practice, the augment is sometimes not made in poetry , especially epic poetry. The augment sometimes substitutes for reduplication; see below. Almost all forms of the perfect, pluperfect, and future perfect reduplicate the initial syllable of the verb stem. (A few irregular forms of perfect do not reduplicate, whereas a handful of irregular aorists reduplicate.) The three types of reduplication are: Irregular duplication can be understood diachronically. For example, lambanō (root lab ) has

6042-419: The augment when it was word-initial. In verbs with a preposition as a prefix, the augment is placed not at the start of the word, but between the preposition and the original verb. For example, προσ(-)βάλλω (I attack) goes to προσ έ βαλoν in the aorist. However compound verbs consisting of a prefix that is not a preposition retain the augment at the start of the word: αὐτο(-)μολῶ goes to ηὐ τομόλησα in

6148-470: The case of smaller prey, they may opt not to use slime at all. Subsequently, a soft part of the prey item (usually a joint membrane in arthropod prey) is identified, punctured with a bite from the jaws, and injected with saliva. This kills the prey very quickly and begins a slower process of digestion. While the onychophoran waits for the prey to digest, it salivates on its slime and begins to eat it (and anything attached to it). It subsequently tugs and slices at

6254-438: The center of Greek scholarship, this division of people and language is quite similar to the results of modern archaeological-linguistic investigation. One standard formulation for the dialects is: West vs. non-West Greek is the strongest-marked and earliest division, with non-West in subsets of Ionic-Attic (or Attic-Ionic) and Aeolic vs. Arcadocypriot, or Aeolic and Arcado-Cypriot vs. Ionic-Attic. Often non-West

6360-406: The claws. Actual locomotion is achieved less by the exertion of the leg muscles than by local changes of body length. This can be controlled using the annular and longitudinal muscles. If the annular muscles are contracted, the body cross-section is reduced, and the corresponding segment lengthens; this is the usual mode of operation of the hydrostatic skeleton as also employed by other worms. Due to

6466-490: The corresponding sperm vesicle (the vesicula seminalis ) and exit channel (the vasa efferentia ). The two vasa efferentia unite to a common sperm duct, the vas deferens , which in turn widens through the ejaculatory channel to open at the gonopore. Directly beside or behind this lie two pairs of special glands, which probably serve some auxiliary reproductive function; the rearmost glands are also known as anal glands. A penis -like structure has so far been found only in males of

SECTION 60

#1732776127848

6572-615: The dialect of Sparta ), and Northern Peloponnesus Doric (including Corinthian ). All the groups were represented by colonies beyond Greece proper as well, and these colonies generally developed local characteristics, often under the influence of settlers or neighbors speaking different Greek dialects. After the conquests of Alexander the Great in the late 4th century BC, a new international dialect known as Koine or Common Greek developed, largely based on Attic Greek , but with influence from other dialects. This dialect slowly replaced most of

6678-400: The earlier perforation to allow access to the now-liquefied interior of its prey. The jaws operate by moving backwards and forwards along the axis of the body (not in a side-to-side clipping motion as in arthropods), conceivably using a pairing of musculature and hydrostatic pressure. The pharynx is specially adapted for sucking, to extract the liquefied tissue; the arrangement of the jaws about

6784-480: The embryos develop. The single vagina , to which both uteri are connected, runs outward to the gonopore. In egg-laying species, whose gonoduct is uniformly constructed, the genital opening lies at the tip of a long egg-laying apparatus, the ovipositor . The females of many species also possess a sperm repository called the receptacle seminis , in which sperm cells from males can be stored temporarily or for longer periods. Males possess two separate testes , along with

6890-463: The exits of the slime glands, probably also have some function in sensory perception . Sensory cells known as "sensills" on the "lips" or labrum respond to chemical stimuli and are known as chemoreceptors . These are also found on the two antennae, which seem to be the velvet worm's most important sensory organs. Except in a few (typically subterranean ) species, one simply constructed eye (ocellus) lies behind each antenna, laterally, just underneath

6996-399: The front intestine . The saliva that they produce contains mucus and hydrolytic enzymes , which initiate digestion in and outside the mouth. The throat itself is very muscular, serving to absorb the partially liquified food and to pump it, via the oesophagus , which forms the rear part of the front intestine, into the central intestine. Unlike the front intestine, this is not lined with

7102-431: The general direction where the net is thrown. The slime glands themselves are deep inside the body cavity, each at the end of a tube more than half the length of the body. The tube both conducts the fluid and stores it until it is required. The distance that the animal can propel the slime varies; usually it squirts it about a centimetre, but the maximal range has variously been reported to be ten centimetres, or even nearly

7208-439: The genus Paraperipatus but has not yet been observed in action. There are different mating procedures: In some species males deposit their spermatophore directly into the female's genitals opening, while others deposit it on the female's body, where the cuticle will collapse, allowing the sperm cells to migrate into the female. There are also Australian species where the male place their spermatophore on top of their head, which

7314-414: The head and comprise three segments: The surface of the mandibles is smooth, with no ornamentation. The cuticle in the mandibles (and claws) is distinct from the rest of the body. It has an inner and outer component; the outer component has just two layers (whereas body cuticle has four), and these outer layers (in particular the inner epicuticle) are dehydrated and strongly tanned, affording toughness. On

7420-422: The head develops only a little differently from the abdominal segments. Segmentation is apparently specified by the same gene as in other groups of animals, and is activated in each case, during embryonic development, at the rear border of each segment and in the growth zone of the stub feet. Although onychophorans fall within the protostome group, their early development has a deuterostome trajectory, (with

7526-474: The head. This consists of a chitinous ball lens , a cornea and a retina and is connected to the centre of the brain via an optic nerve . The retina comprises numerous pigment cells and photoreceptors; the latter are easily modified flagellated cells, whose flagellum membranes carry a photosensitive pigment on their surface. The rhabdomeric eyes of the Onychophora are thought to be homologous with

7632-561: The historical Dorians . The invasion is known to have displaced population to the later Attic-Ionic regions, who regarded themselves as descendants of the population displaced by or contending with the Dorians. The Greeks of this period believed there were three major divisions of all Greek people – Dorians, Aeolians, and Ionians (including Athenians), each with their own defining and distinctive dialects. Allowing for their oversight of Arcadian, an obscure mountain dialect, and Cypriot, far from

7738-476: The historical circumstances of the times imply that the overall groups already existed in some form. Scholars assume that major Ancient Greek period dialect groups developed not later than 1120 BC, at the time of the Dorian invasions —and that their first appearances as precise alphabetic writing began in the 8th century BC. The invasion would not be "Dorian" unless the invaders had some cultural relationship to

7844-399: The internal muscle layer lies the body cavity. In cross-section, this is divided into three regions by so-called dorso-ventral muscles, which run from the middle of the underbelly through to the edges of the upper side: a central midsection and on the left and right, two side regions that also include the legs. The body cavity is known as a "pseudocoel", or haemocoel . Unlike a true coelom ,

7950-441: The larger of which carry visible villi-like sensitive bristles. The papillae themselves are covered with tiny scales , lending the skin a velvety appearance (from which the common name is likely derived). It also feels like dry velvet to the touch, for which its water-repellent nature is responsible. Moulting of the skin ( ecdysis ) takes place regularly, around every 14 days, induced by the hormone ecdysone . The inner surface of

8056-551: The length of the other individual. Once hierarchy has been established, pairs of individuals will often cluster together to form an "aggregate"; this is fastest in male-female pairings, followed by pairs of females, then pairs of males. Social hierarchy is established by a number of interactions: Higher-ranking individuals will chase and bite their subordinates while the latter are trying to crawl on top of them. Juveniles never engage in aggressive behaviour, but climb on top of adults, which tolerate their presence on their backs. Hierarchy

8162-415: The median ocelli of arthropods; this would suggest that the last common ancestor of arthropods may have only had median ocelli. However, the innervation shows that the homology is limited: The eyes of Onychophora form behind the antenna, whereas the opposite is true in arthropods. Both sexes possess pairs of gonads , opening via a channel called a gonoduct into a common genital opening, the gonopore , which

8268-444: The mode of sperm transmission varies widely. In most species, for example in the genus Peripatus , a package of sperm cells called the spermatophore is placed into the genital opening of the female. Ancient Greek language Ancient Greek ( Ἑλληνῐκή , Hellēnikḗ ; [hellɛːnikɛ́ː] ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It

8374-427: The moist interior of a rotting log. Group members are extremely aggressive towards individuals from other logs. Dominance is achieved through aggression and maintained through submissive behaviour. After a kill, the dominant female always feeds first, followed in turn by the other females, then males, then the young. When assessing other individuals, individuals often measure one another up by running their antennae down

8480-404: The mouth and anus forming separately); this trajectory is concealed by the rather sophisticated processes which occur in early development. The stub feet that characterise the velvet worms are conical , baggy appendages of the body, which are internally hollow and have no joints. Although the number of feet can vary considerably between species, their structure is basically very similar. Rigidity

8586-492: The nervous system such that contraction waves run the length of the body, each pair of legs swinging forward and then down and rearward in succession. Macroperipatus can reach speeds of up to four centimetres per second, although speeds of around 6 body-lengths per minute are more typical. The body gets longer and narrower as the animal picks up speed; the length of each leg also varies during each stride. The brains of Onychophora, though small, are very complex; consequently,

8692-508: The older dialects, although the Doric dialect has survived in the Tsakonian language , which is spoken in the region of modern Sparta. Doric has also passed down its aorist terminations into most verbs of Demotic Greek . By about the 6th century AD, the Koine had slowly metamorphosed into Medieval Greek . Phrygian is an extinct Indo-European language of West and Central Anatolia , which

8798-627: The onset of cavitation . Both solids and liquids have free surfaces, which cost some amount of free energy to form. In the case of solids, the amount of free energy to form a given unit of surface area is called surface energy , whereas for liquids the same quantity is called surface tension . In response to surface tension, the ability of liquids to flow results in behaviour differing from that of solids, though at equilibrium both tend to minimise their surface energy : liquids tend to form rounded droplets , whereas pure solids tend to form crystals . Gases , lacking free surfaces, freely diffuse . In

8904-454: The organism's dry weight and is 90% water; its dry residue consists mainly of proteins—primarily a collagen -type protein. 1.3% of the slime's dry weight consists of sugars, mainly galactosamine . The slime also contains lipids and the surfactant nonylphenol . Onychophora are the only organisms known to produce this latter substance. It tastes "slightly bitter and at the same time somewhat astringent". The proteinaceous composition accounts for

9010-407: The organisms are capable of rather sophisticated social interactions. Behaviour may vary from genus to genus, so this article reflects the most-studied genus, Euperipatoides . The Euperipatoides form social groups of up to fifteen individuals, usually closely related, which will typically live and hunt together. Groups usually live together; in drier regions an example of a shared home would be

9116-401: The ostia from the pericardial sinus (the cavity containing the heart) into the heart. When the systole begins, the ostia close and the heart muscles contract inwards, reducing the volume of the heart. This pumps the blood from the front end of the heart into the perivisceral sinus containing the organs. In this way, the various organs are supplied with nutrients before the blood finally returns to

9222-487: The perfect stem eilēpha (not * lelēpha ) because it was originally slambanō , with perfect seslēpha , becoming eilēpha through compensatory lengthening. Reduplication is also visible in the present tense stems of certain verbs. These stems add a syllable consisting of the root's initial consonant followed by i . A nasal stop appears after the reduplication in some verbs. The earliest extant examples of ancient Greek writing ( c.  1450 BC ) are in

9328-430: The pericardial sinus via the perforations in the diaphragm. In addition to the pumping action of the heart, body movements also influence circulation. Oxygen uptake occurs to an extent via simple diffusion through the entire body surface, with the coxal vesicles on the legs possibly being involved in some species. However, of most importance is gas exchange via fine unbranched tubes, the tracheae , which draw oxygen from

9434-428: The prey item are bitten off and swallowed; undigestable components take around 18 hours to pass through the digestive tract. Onychophora probably do not primarily use vision to detect their prey; although their tiny eyes do have a good image-forming capacity, their forward vision is obscured by their antennae; their nocturnal habit also limits the utility of eyesight. Air currents, formed by prey motion, are thought to be

9540-426: The primary mode of locating prey; the role of scent, if any, is unclear. Because it takes so long to ingest a prey item, hunting mainly happens around dusk; the onychophorans will abandon their prey at sunrise. This predatory way of life is probably a consequence of the velvet worm's need to remain moist. Due to the continual risk of desiccation, often only a few hours per day are available for finding food. This leads to

9646-424: The released nutrients, although the majority of digestion has already taken place externally or in the mouth. Indigestible remnants arrive in the rear intestine, or rectum , which is once again lined with a cuticula and which opens at the anus , located on the underside near to the rear end. In almost every segment is a pair of excretory organs called nephridia, which are derived from coelom tissue. Each consists of

9752-415: The rest of their group. Almost all species of velvet worm reproduce sexually. The sole exception is Epiperipatus imthurni , of which no males have been observed; reproduction instead occurs by parthenogenesis . All species are in principle sexually distinct and bear, in many cases, a marked sexual dimorphism : the females are usually larger than the males and have, in species where the number of legs

9858-413: The salivary glands, while another pair in the final segment of male specimens now serve as glands that apparently play a role in reproduction. The entire body, including the stub feet, is littered with numerous papillae: warty protrusions responsive to touch that carry a mechanoreceptive bristle at the tip, each of which is also connected to further sensory nerve cells lying beneath. The mouth papillae,

9964-420: The size of the hunting onychophoran. Ninety percent of the time involved in eating prey is spent ingesting it; re-ingestion of the slime used to trap the insect is performed while the onychophoran locates a suitable place to puncture the prey, and this phase accounts for around 8% of the feeding time, with the remaining time evenly split between examining, squirting, and injecting the prey. In some cases, chunks of

10070-407: The skin bears a hexagonal pattern. At each moult, the shed skin is replaced by the epidermis, which lies immediately beneath it; unlike the cuticula, this consists of living cells. Beneath this lies a thick layer of connective tissue, which is composed primarily of collagen fibres aligned either parallel or perpendicular to the body's longitudinal axis. The colouration of Onychophora is generated by

10176-415: The slime gland known as the "slime conductor" is broadened into a reservoir, allowing it to hold pre-produced slime. Velvet worm slime glands and oral papilla are likely modified and repurposed limbs. The glands themselves are probably modified crural glands. All three structures correspond to an evolutionary origin in the leg pairs of the other segments. Unlike the arthropods, velvet worms do not possess

10282-431: The slime's high tensile strength and stretchiness. The lipid and nonylphenol constituents may serve one of two purposes: They may line the ejection channel, stopping the slime from sticking to the organism when it is secreted; or they may slow the drying process long enough for the slime to reach its target. Velvet worms/Onychophora move in a slow and gradual motion that makes them difficult for prey to notice. Their trunk

10388-632: The soil into which they can withdraw during the day, and in caves. Two species live in caves , a habitat to which their ability to squeeze themselves into the smallest cracks makes them exceptionally well-adapted and in which constant living conditions are guaranteed. Since the essential requirements for cave life were probably already present prior to the settlement of these habitats, this may be described as exaptation . Some species of velvet worms are able to occupy human-modified land-uses, such as cocoa and banana plantations in South America and

10494-421: The stretching, the legs of the segment concerned are lifted and swung forward. Local contraction of the longitudinal muscles then shortens the appropriate segment, and the legs, which are now in contact with the ground, are moved to the rear. This part of the locomotive cycle is the actual leg stroke that is responsible for forward movement. The individual stretches and contractions of the segments are coordinated by

10600-444: The surface deep into the various organs, particularly the heart. The walls of these structures, which are less than three micrometers thick in their entirety, consist only of an extremely thin membrane through which oxygen can easily diffuse. The tracheae originate at tiny openings, the spiracles , which themselves are clustered together in dent-like recesses of the outer skin, the atria . The number of "tracheae bundles" thus formed

10706-517: The syllabic script Linear B . Beginning in the 8th century BC, however, the Greek alphabet became standard, albeit with some variation among dialects. Early texts are written in boustrophedon style, but left-to-right became standard during the classic period. Modern editions of ancient Greek texts are usually written with accents and breathing marks , interword spacing , modern punctuation , and sometimes mixed case , but these were all introduced later. The beginning of Homer 's Iliad exemplifies

10812-402: The third head segment, to the left and right of the mouth, are two openings called "oral papillae", with each containing a large, heavily branched slime gland. These slime glands lie roughly in the center of a velvet worm's body and secrete a sort of milky-white slime. The slime is used to both ensnare prey and act as a distraction for defensive purposes. In certain species, an organ connected to

10918-438: The tongue and lip papillae ensures a tight seal and the establishment of suction. In social groups, the dominant female is the first to feed, not permitting competitors access to the prey item for the first hour of feeding. Subsequently, subordinate individuals begin to feed. The number of males reaches a peak after females start to leave the prey item. After feeding, individuals clean their antennae and mouth parts before re-joining

11024-520: The true number of species is likely greater. The two extant families of velvet worms are Peripatidae and Peripatopsidae . They show a peculiar distribution, with the peripatids being predominantly equatorial and tropical, while the peripatopsids are all found south of the equator. It is the only phylum within Animalia that is wholly endemic to terrestrial environments, at least among extant members. Velvet worms are generally considered close relatives of

11130-472: The velvet worm makes a decision as to whether to attack it, or until it disturbs the prey and the prey flees. Hungry Onychophora spend less time investigating their prey and are quicker to apply their slime. Once slime has been squirted, Onychophora are determined to pursue and devour their prey, in order to recoup the energy investment. They have been observed to spend up to ten minutes searching for removed prey, after which they return to their slime to eat it. In

11236-480: Was Aeolic. For example, fragments of the works of the poet Sappho from the island of Lesbos are in Aeolian. Most of the dialect sub-groups listed above had further subdivisions, generally equivalent to a city-state and its surrounding territory, or to an island. Doric notably had several intermediate divisions as well, into Island Doric (including Cretan Doric ), Southern Peloponnesus Doric (including Laconian ,

#847152