Kids Research Express

. Velvetworm, any of a group of soft-bodied, many-legged, worm-like animals known for their velvety cuticle, or outer covering, and their resemblance to both arthropods (insects, spiders, and crustaceans) and annelids (segmented or true worms). They live in moist tropical and temperate habitats south of the tropic of Cancer. Velvetworms are also known as onychophorans or peripatuses, after the most familiar genus. About 80 species of velvetworms are known. Mature velvetworms range from 1.5 to 15 cm (0.6 to 5.9 in) in length and may be blue, orange, green, or black in color. Their thin, flexible cuticle, or outer skin, bears many small, scaly, wartlike tubercles and sensory hairs, which produce a velvety appearance. Velvetworms have 14 to 43 pairs of stubby, claw-tipped legs called lobopods. The lobopods contain no muscles. Velvetworms control their body and limb movements with hydrostatic pressure changes within their body cavity. Velvetworms use these pressure changes to lift and lo...

. Purple and Yellow Tube Sponge The purple and yellow tube sponge displays one of the many different body forms typical of sponges. Sponges, considered to be the most primitive of the multicellular animals, are represented in the fossil record back to the Cambrian Period, at least 600 million years ago. The interior body cavities of sponges provide shelter for a variety of small crabs, sea stars, and other marine invertebrates. Scorpion This species of scorpion is one of approximately 40 species of scorpion native to the southwestern United States. A jointed, external exoskeleton provides the scorpion with a protective outer shell. Defense and prey capture involves grasping of the prey or potential predator with the large powerful claws while the jointed tail delivers a disabling sting. Although the sting of most scorpions is not fatal to humans, the sting of this particular species has proven to be fatal to younger children. Sheep Tick Ticks are members of the class Arachnida, which i...