Question

Peripatus is the connecting link between Annelida and Arthropoda. In addition, the other character of zoological importance in this animal is
(a) Habitat
(b) Living fossils
(c) Jointed legs
(d) Habitat

Answer 1

Hint: Peripatus is very important in terms of understanding evolution. It is recognized as the zoologically important connecting link between the Annelida, or segmented worms, and the Arthropoda, such as crabs, spiders, and insects.

Complete answer:
Peripatus is a living fossil because the living members appear similar to fossil species as much as 570 million years old. Peripatus is a primitive arthropod. It also has jointed legs and appendages and has compound eyes present. It also has the presence of tracheas. These traits show their link to the arthropods. The body is segmented with nephridia as an excretory organ. The surrounding layer present on the outer side of an organism is non-chitinous in nature. All these traits show that the Peripatus is linked with the Annelida.
-Peripatus is a genus of Onychophora commonly known as velvet worms. Peripatus is an invertebrate with short, thick legs and a dry, velveteen body.
-The dry, velvety covering of the animals differs in color to camouflage the surroundings and spans from dark slate to reddish-brown, with a darker median stripe on the back.
-These are Unable to control water loss, they cannot tolerate dry habitats and hence only found in the rainforests of Central America, the Caribbean, and northern South America.
-They have an elongated body made up of 14 to 44 trunk segments, each possessing a pair of short legs. The number of segments varies according to the species.
-It is predatory as it spits quick-hardening slime from projections near the mouth to subdue invertebrates such as crickets, spiders, and woodlice and then uses its jaws to open the captured prey before injecting digestive saliva and sucking out the liquefied insides.

So, the correct answer is ‘Living fossils’.

Note:
Peripatus live among leaf litter, under stones or fallen logs, inside galleries of fallen logs, inside nests of termites, or in crevices and galleries in the soil—sometimes to depths of more than one meter by squeezing themselves through narrow passages because they lack any sort of skeleton.