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(1) Background: Originally described as a single taxon, Peripatoides novaezealandiae (Hutton, 1876) are distributed across both main islands of New Zealand; the existence of multiple distinct lineages of live-bearing Onychophora across this spatial range has gradually emerged. Morphological conservatism obscured the true endemic diversity, and the inclusion of molecular tools has been instrumental in revealing these cryptic taxa. (2) Methods: Here, we review the diversity of the ovoviviparous Onychophora of New Zealand through a re-analysis of allozyme genotype data, mitochondrial DNA cytochrome oxidase subunit I sequences, geographic information and morphology. (3) Results: New analysis of the multilocus biallelic nuclear data using methods that do not require a priori assumptions of population assignment support at least six lineages of ovoviviparous Peripatoides in northern New Zealand, and mtDNA sequence variation is consistent with these divisions. Expansion of mitochondrial DNA sequence data, including representation of all existing taxa and additional populations extends our knowledge of the scale of sympatry among taxa and shows that three other lineages from southern South Island can be added to the Peripatoides list, and names are proposed here. In total, 10 species of Peripatoides can be recognised with current data.

The phylum Onychophora has only about 200 described species around the world. Commonly known as velvet worms or peripatuses, they are soft-bodied, many-legged invertebrates. Onychophora hunt at night and live in moist places on land. On the outside, they all look very similar which makes species identification difficult. In Aotearoa, New Zealand, the species within the endemic genus of live-bearing Peripatoides are known as ngāokeoke. One species in this genus is distinguished by having 16 pairs of legs (P. suteri), while others have 15 pairs of legs. One species (P. indigo) has a distinctive blue colour, but other taxa have a mix of orange and blue pigmentation. Five northern species within Peripatoides were established from genetic evidence of reproductively isolated sympatric populations. Morphological variation in this genus is re-examined using additional sampling from North Island and South Island, New Zealand. A re-analysis of nuclear markers and new DNA sequences confirms that five species are cryptic and their known ranges have been updated. Three new ngāokeoke species in the genus Peripatoides are described from South Island. These three new species represent distinct genetic lineages with distinct pigmentation patterns. (1) Background: Originally described as a single taxon, Peripatoides novaezealandiae (Hutton, 1876) are distributed across both main islands of New Zealand; the existence of multiple distinct lineages of live-bearing Onychophora across this spatial range has gradually emerged. Morphological conservatism obscured the true endemic diversity, and the inclusion of molecular tools has been instrumental in revealing these cryptic taxa. (2) Methods: Here, we review the diversity of the ovoviviparous Onychophora of New Zealand through a re-analysis of allozyme genotype data, mitochondrial DNA cytochrome oxidase subunit I sequences, geographic information and morphology. (3) Results: New analysis of the multilocus biallelic nuclear data using methods that do not require a priori assumptions of population assignment support at least six lineages of ovoviviparous Peripatoides in northern New Zealand, and mtDNA sequence variation is consistent with these divisions. Expansion of mitochondrial DNA sequence data, including representation of all existing taxa and additional populations extends our knowledge of the scale of sympatry among taxa and shows that three other lineages from southern South Island can be added to the Peripatoides list, and names are proposed here. In total, 10 species of Peripatoides can be recognised with current data.

Precipitation is expected to increase in a warmer global climate, yet how sensitive precipitation is to warming depends on poorly constrained cloud radiative processes. Clouds respond to surface warming in ways that alter the atmosphere's ability to radiatively cool and hence form precipitation. Here we examine the links between cloud responses to warming, atmospheric radiative fluxes, and hydrological sensitivity in AMIP6 simulations. The clearest impacts come from high clouds, which reduce atmospheric radiative cooling as they rise in altitude in response to surface warming. Using cloud locking, we demonstrate that high cloud radiative changes weaken Earth's hydrological sensitivity to surface warming. The total impact of cloud radiative effects on hydrological sensitivity is halved by interactions between cloud and clear‐sky radiative effects, yet is sufficiently large to be a major source of uncertainty in hydrological sensitivity. Plain Language Summary Clouds both absorb and emit radiation, with the net balance influencing how readily precipitation can form in the atmosphere. Here we look at how clouds alter the atmosphere's radiative response to warming and through this affect how much precipitation will increase in a warmer climate. We find that high clouds, which are known to rise as the surface warms, drive considerable disagreement in simulated radiative and precipitation responses to warming. By analyzing simulations where the radiative influences of clouds are locked into place, we demonstrate that these influences overall reduce the precipitation increase per degree of warming. Our analysis also reveals complicating factors affecting the link between cloud and precipitation changes in a warmer climate. Key Points Cloud radiative responses to surface warming weaken the global mean precipitation increase per degree of warming High clouds are a prominent source of intermodel disagreement for the atmosphere's radiative and precipitation responses to surface warming Cloud locking experiments enable quantification and detailed study of how cloud radiative responses to warming affect precipitation change

Rewarewa ( Knightia excelsa , Proteaceae) is a tree species endemic to Aotearoa New Zealand, with a natural distribution spanning Te Ika-a-Māui (North Island) and the top of Te Waipounamu (South Island). We used the pseudo-chromosome genome assembly of rewarewa as a reference and whole genome pooled sequencing from 35 populations sampled across Aotearoa New Zealand, including trees growing on Māori-owned land, to identify 1,443,255 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). Four genetic clusters located in the northern North Island (NNI), eastern North Island (NIE), western and southern North Island (NIWS), and the South Island (SI) were identified. Gene flow was revealed between the SI and NIE genetic clusters, plus bottleneck and contraction events within the genetic clusters since the mid-late Pleistocene, with divergence between North and South Island clusters estimated to have occurred ~115,000–230,000 years ago. Genotype environment analysis (GEA) was used to identify loci and genes linked with altitude, soil pH, soil carbon, slope, soil size, annual mean temperature, mean diurnal range, isothermality, annual precipitation, and precipitation seasonality. The location of the SNPs associated with these environmental variables was compared with the position of 52,192 gene-coding sequences that were predicted in the rewarewa genome using RNA sequencing. This new understanding of the genetic variation present in rewarewa and insights into the genetic control of adaptive traits will inform efforts to incorporate the species in restoration plantings and for marketing rewarewa honey based on provenance.