The geographic distribution of Costa Rican velvet worms (Onychophora: Peripatidae).

Velvet worms, "peripatus" or onychophorans, are "living fossils" that were geographically widespread in Cambrian seas but now occur exclusively on terrestrial habitats. The only extant species studied in some detail are those from Costa Rica, but their real geographic distribution was in urgent need of revision. To solve this problem we visited the localities mentioned in all the original taxonomic descriptions and redescriptions.