Tasmanipatus anophthalmus Ruhberg et al., 1991
(Blind Velvet Worm)

Looking much like a cave-dweller, this remarkable velvet worm from the northern East Coast is pure white in colour and eyeless (but see Ruhberg et al. 2001). Nevertheless, it lives in forest, like other velvet worms. It shelters deep within rotting logs and soil but has also been found in piles of dolerite rocks in the St Marys area. Mature females of T. anophthalmus can reach 50 mm in length when fully extended. Like other ovoviviparous Tasmanian velvet worms, T. anophthalmus will extend itself and attempt to escape when disturbed.

T. anophthalmus has a range of only about 150 km² and is listed as 'Endangered' under the Tasmanian Threatened Species Protection Act 1995. Please do not collect or disturb this species. Because of its rarity and its occurrence on non-reserved land, T. anophthalmus has been carefully studied since its discovery in 1987, and a good deal is known about the biology, distribution and conservation of this species (Mesibov 1997). It has a core distribution on Mt Elephant and in the coastal creek catchments just to the south, with peripheral populations extending west along the Nicholas Range and south to the Denison Rivulet. Populations in the settled parts of its range are at risk from forest clearing and too-frequent and too-hot burning.

Another control on T. anophthalmus distribution is its still-unexplained parapatry with Tasmanipatus barretti. The two species ranges meet, with almost no overlap, along a line from just north of Chain of Lagoons, to St Marys Pass, to the Mt Nicholas area.

Localities for Tasmanipatus anophthalmus.  Scale bar = 100 km.
For an interactive map with more up-to-date localities, go to the mapper page.

More information:
 
Taxonomy - Ruhberg et al. (1991), Reid (1996)
Biology - Luttrell (1988), Tait & Briscoe (1990?), Smith & Gilfedder (1993), Horner (1995), Ruhberg et al. (2001)
Distribution, conservation and general - Tait & Briscoe (1987), Mesibov (1987), Mesibov (1988), Tait & Briscoe (1989), Eberhard & Eberhard (1989), Taylor (1990), Mesibov (1990), Mesibov & Ruhberg (1991), Jackson & Taylor (1995), Ruhberg & Mesibov (1996), Mesibov (1997), Bryant & Jackson (1999), Mesibov et al. (2002)