For many people, myself included, this velvet worm was a new phylum, Onychophora, to observe alive in the wild. Onychophorans are thought to be intermediate between segmented worms, annelids, and arthropods, and that's what they look like, a segmented worm with legs. The 540 million year old Burgess Shale has two fossil organisms that appear to be Onychophorans, thus attesting to their antiquity. This individual was 5-6 cm long. It's finely textured surface produces the velvety appearance. It's always exciting to encounter a strange, new organism.