Parturition in a Costa Rican species of Epiperipatus has the following sequence: the mother shows peristalsis and swollen gonopore, the terminal lobopods are raised and the neonate walks out, a drop of white material is expelled by the gonopore. The young may crawl to the mother's back. Four young measured 1.2-1.8 mm in length and weighed 0.010-0.017 g (mean, 5.9% of mother's weight). During the first six weeks young are more lightly coloured than adults. In onychophorans, the parturition sequence is relatively constant throughout the taxa, requires 10-30 min and its frequency appears to be influenced by environmental conditions. The systematic distribution of modes of reproduction suggest an increasing tendency towards greater parental investment.
