Editing Onychophora (section)

===Feeding===
[[File:Q Boanamo 1209 (26).jpg|thumb|Unidentified onychophoran species feeding on a [[cockroach]]|350x350px]]
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]]).

The most energetically favourable prey are two-fifths the size of the hunting onychophoran.<ref name=Read1987/> Ninety percent of the time involved in eating prey is spent ingesting it; re-ingestion of the slime used to trap the insect is performed while the onychophoran locates a suitable place to puncture the prey, and this phase accounts for around 8% of the feeding time, with the remaining time evenly split between examining, squirting, and injecting the prey.<ref name=Read1987/> In some cases, chunks of the prey item are bitten off and swallowed; undigestable components take around 18 hours to pass through the digestive tract.<ref name=Mayer2015/>

Onychophora probably do not primarily use vision to detect their prey; although their tiny eyes do have a good image-forming capacity, their forward vision is obscured by their antennae;<ref name=Read1987/> their nocturnal habit also limits the utility of eyesight. Air currents, formed by prey motion, are thought to be the primary mode of locating prey; the role of scent, if any, is unclear.<ref name=Read1987/> Because it takes so long to ingest a prey item, hunting mainly happens around dusk; the onychophorans will abandon their prey at sunrise.<ref name=Read1987/> This predatory way of life is probably a consequence of the velvet worm's need to remain moist. Due to the continual risk of desiccation, often only a few hours per day are available for finding food. This leads to a strong selection for a low cost-benefit ratio, which cannot be achieved with a herbivorous diet.{{Citation needed|date=January 2021}}

Velvet worms literally creep up on their prey, with their smooth, gradual and fluid movement escaping detection.<ref name=Read1987/> Once they reach their prey, they touch it very softly with their antennae to assess its size and nutritional value. After each poke, the antenna is hastily retracted to avoid alerting the prey.<ref name=Read1987/> This investigation may last anywhere upwards of ten seconds, until the velvet worm makes a decision as to whether to attack it, or until it disturbs the prey and the prey flees.<ref name='Read1987'>{{cite journal |first1=V. M. St J. |last1=Read |first2=R. N. |last2=Hughes |date=May 22, 1987 |title=Feeding Behaviour and Prey Choice in ''Macroperipatus torquatus'' (Onychophora) |journal=Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences |volume=230 |issue=1261 |pages=483–506 |jstor=36199 |doi=10.1098/rspb.1987.0030 |bibcode=1987RSPSB.230..483R|s2cid=83545214 }}</ref> Hungry Onychophora spend less time investigating their prey and are quicker to apply their slime.<ref name=Read1987/> Once slime has been squirted, Onychophora are determined to pursue and devour their prey, in order to recoup the energy investment. They have been observed to spend up to ten minutes searching for removed prey, after which they return to their slime to eat it.<ref name=Read1987/> In the case of smaller prey, they may opt not to use slime at all.<ref name=Read1987/> Subsequently, a soft part of the prey item (usually a joint membrane in arthropod prey) is identified, punctured with a bite from the jaws, and injected with saliva. This kills the prey very quickly and begins a slower process of digestion.<ref name=Read1987/> While the onychophoran waits for the prey to digest, it salivates on its slime and begins to eat it (and anything attached to it). It subsequently tugs and slices at the earlier perforation to allow access to the now-liquefied interior of its prey.<ref name=Read1987/> The jaws operate by moving backwards and forwards along the axis of the body (not in a side-to-side clipping motion as in arthropods), conceivably using a pairing of musculature and hydrostatic pressure.<ref name=Mayer2015>{{Cite journal | doi = 10.1093/icb/icv004| title = Capture of Prey, Feeding, and Functional Anatomy of the Jaws in Velvet Worms (Onychophora)| journal = Integrative and Comparative Biology| year = 2015| last1 = Mayer | first1 = G.| last2 = Oliveira | first2 = I. S.| last3 = Baer | first3 = A.| last4 = Hammel | first4 = J. U.| last5 = Gallant | first5 = J.| last6 = Hochberg | first6 = R. | volume=55 | issue = 2| pages=217–227 | pmid=25829018| doi-access = free}}</ref> The pharynx is specially adapted for sucking, to extract the liquefied tissue; the arrangement of the jaws about the tongue and lip papillae ensures a tight seal and the establishment of suction.<ref name=Mayer2015/> In social groups, the dominant female is the first to feed, not permitting competitors access to the prey item for the first hour of feeding. Subsequently, subordinate individuals begin to feed. The number of males reaches a peak after females start to leave the prey item.<ref name=Reinhard2005/> After feeding, individuals clean their antennae and mouth parts before re-joining the rest of their group.<ref name=Reinhard2005/>