Lepidopleurus otagoensis

Taxobox
name = "Lepidopleurus otagoensis"
status =
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Mollusca
classis = Polyplacophora
ordo = Chitonida
subordo = Lepidopleurina
familia = Leptochitonidae
genus = Lepidopleurus
species = "L. otagoensis"
binomial = "Lepidopleurus otagoensis"
binomial_authority = Iredale and Hull, 1929
synonyms = "Terenochiton otagoensis" Iredale and Hull, 1929

"Lepidopleurus otagoensis" is a species of chiton in the family Leptochitonidae.

Distribution

This species is endemic to the Otago coast in the South Island of New Zealand.

Habitat

This chiton lives under stones just below high water mark.

hell description

The shell is similar to "Lepidopleurus finlayi" in shape and in sculpture, except that the dorsal area is not so acutely carinated, and there are no projecting spine-like granules along the posterior edge of the intermediate valves.

Coloration is reddish-buff, darker medially.

Length is up to 7 mm, and the width is up to 3.5 mm.

References

* Powell A. W. B., "New Zealand Mollusca", William Collins Publishers Ltd, Auckland, New Zealand 1979 ISBN 0-00-216906-1