Lepidopleurus inquinatus

Taxobox
name = "Lepidopleurus inquinatus"
status =
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Mollusca
classis = Polyplacophora
ordo = Chitonida
subordo = Lepidopleurina
familia = Leptochitonidae
genus = Lepidopleurus
species = "L. inquinatus"
binomial = "Lepidopleurus inquinatus"
binomial_authority = (Reeve, 1847)
synonyms = "Chiton inquinatus" Reeve, 1847
"Lepidopleurus iredalei" Ashby, 1921
"Terenochiton inquinatus" Iredale and Hull, 1929

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

Distribution

This species is endemic to the North Island of New Zealand, most common from the Bay of Plenty northwards.

Habitat

This chiton lives under intertidal stones on sandy or silty bottoms.

hell description

The shell is large for the genus, evenly arched, not carinated dorsally. The sculpture is of densely and delicately beaded riblets, radial on the end valve and lateral areas, longitudinal on the central area, and there fenestrated by even finer cross threads.

Coloration is yellowish to orange-brown, with a reddish-brown patch at the crest of each valve.

Length is up to 14 mm, and the width is up to 7 mm.

References

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