Ooperipatellus decoratus Baehr, 1977
and undescribed oviparous spp.

Oviparous velvet worms were first collected in Tasmania more than a century ago (Spencer 1895) and have long been recognised as widespread and not uncommon animals in this State (Hickman 1963). However, it has only become apparent in the last 15 years that Tasmania has a diverse fauna of oviparous species. The principal investigator of that fauna is Claudia Brockmann, who is currently (2005) completing a doctoral dissertation at Hamburg University (Germany). Until names and descriptions of the many new species are published (probably in 2006), all oviparous species other than the very distinctive Ooperipatellus cryptus may be identified as 'Ooperipatellus sp.' (Ruhberg & Mesibov 1996).

Oviparous velvet worms are found in forest, woodland and scrub. They are less likely to be found deep in rotting logs than are ovoviviparous species, and they are occasionally collected by sifting through leaf litter. At night they can sometimes be seen hunting on tree trunks. When disturbed, Tasmanian oviparous species (other than O. cryptus) at first tend to 'play dead'. Depending on species, adults range in size from ca. 15 to 35 mm long at rest.

Oviparous species are remarkably tolerant of habitat disturbance, such as wildfire, part-clearing, and the clearfelling, burning and regeneration of native forest, and they successfully colonise forest plantations (Mesibov 1998b, Bonham et al. 2002). They have been found in long-disturbed, Europeanised places such as The Nut at Stanley, and careful searching sometimes reveals small populations in tiny, degraded bush remnants on farms. Oviparous species seem to be particularly abundant on the Great Western Tiers and in open eucalypt forest in the eastern and southern portions of the Central Plateau. They seem to be less abundant in closed eucalypt forest and in rainforest, especially in the Northeast and in lowland areas of the Northwest.

Localities for Ooperipatellus decoratus and undescribed oviparous species.  Note that velvet worms have not so far been recorded from King Island or the Hunter Group.  Scale bar = 100 km.

More information:
 
Taxonomy - Baehr (1977), Ruhberg (1985), Tait et al. (1990)
Biology - Mesibov (1993a), Smith & Gilfedder (1993), Brockmann (1994), Brockmann et al. (1999), Brockmann et al. (2001)
Distribution, conservation and general - Spencer (1895), Flynn (1918), Hickman (1963), Tait & Briscoe (1987), Mesibov (1988), Eberhard et al. (1991), Coy et al. (1993), Ruhberg & Mesibov (1996), Savage River Caving Club (1996), Mesibov (1998a), Mesibov (1998b), Bonham et al. (2002)