Onychophora: Difference between revisions - Wikipedia

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===Feeding===

[[File:Q Boanamo 1209 (26).jpg|thumb|Unidentified onychophoran species feeding on itsa prey[[cockroach]]]]

Velvet worms are [[ambush predator]]s, hunting [[nocturnality|only by night]],<ref name=Read1987/> and are able to capture animals at least their own size, although capturing a large prey item may take almost all of their [[mucus]]-secreting capacity.<ref name="Dias Lo-Man-Hung 2009">{{cite journal |first1=Sidclay C. |last1=Dias |first2=Nancy F. |last2=Lo-Man-Hung |date=April 2009 |title=First record of an onychophoran (Onychophora, Peripatidae) feeding on a theraphosid spider (Araneae, Theraphosidae) |journal=Journal of Arachnology |volume=37 |issue=1 |pages=116–7 |doi=10.1636/ST08-20.1|s2cid=86820446 |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/part/229133 }}</ref> 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]]),<ref name="Dias Lo-Man-Hung 2009"/> various worms, and even large snails ([[Gastropoda]]). Depending on their size, they eat on average every one to four weeks.<ref name=Read1987/> They are considered to be [[ecology|ecological]]ly equivalent to centipedes ([[Chilopoda]]).