(No common name)

ORDER

No order designation

FAMILY

Peripatopsidae

TAXONOMY

Cephalofovea tomahmontis Ruhberg et al., 1988, Mt. Tomah, New South Wales, Australia.

OTHER COMMON NAMES

None known.

PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS

Thirty antennal rings, each with single row of bristles. Male with an eversible head structure consisting of dome-shaped, fleshy crown. Distal half of the crown has rounded, scaled papillae mediodorsally. Proximal part of crown unpigmented, with scattered, pigmented papillae. When inverted, the structure forms a depression, or pit. Female head papillae modified, reduced in size and crowded together in shallow pit. Fifteen pairs of oncopods in both sexes. Crural papillae present only on first pair, or first two pairs, of oncopods. Repeated Y-shaped segmental body pattern. Up to about 2 in (50 mm) in length, with females larger than males.

DISTRIBUTION

The species is found in the Blue Mountains, west of Sydney, NSW, Australia, from Mt. Tomah to Mt. Wilson.

HABITAT

Found in and under rotting logs and among leaf litter in eucalypt forest.

BEHAVIOR

They are highly secretive, so little is known about their behavior.

FEEDING ECOLOGY AND DIET

Little is known about their feeding ecology and diet. In captivity, they feed readily on slaters and Drosophilia.

REPRODUCTIVE BIOLOGY

Males have been found with spermatophores cupped within their partially everted head structure. Mating has not been observed. This species is ovoviviparous. Females give birth to fully developed young.

CONSERVATION STATUS

Not listed by the IUCN. This species can only be distinguished from its congeners using molecular methods, and the extent of its distribution range is not known. However, its status would seem to be secure at present.

SIGNIFICANCE TO HUMANS

None known.