Sypharochiton pelliserpentis

Taxobox
name = "Sypharochiton pelliserpentis"


image_width =
status =
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Mollusca
classis = Polyplacophora
ordo = Chitonida
subordo = Chitonina
superfamilia = Chitonoidea
familia = Chitonidae
genus = "Sypharochiton"
species = "S. pelliserpentis"
binomial = "Sypharochiton pelliserpentis"
binomial_authority = (Quoy and Gaimard, 1835)
synonyms = "Chiton pelliserpentis" Quoy and Gaimard, 1835

"Sypharochiton pelliserpentis" is a species of chiton in the family Chitonidae.

Distribution

This species is endemic to New Zealand including the Chatham Islands. It is New Zealand's most common chiton.

Habitat

This chiton is found under stones, above the mid-tide level.

Description

The shell is coarsely sculptured with nodulose radial ribs over both end valves, as well as the lateral areas of the median valves. The central area is densely longitudinally grooved.

Coloration is greenish, heavily blotched and streaked in dark green, mostly with dark wedge-shaped markings down the crest of the valves.

Length is up to 42 mm, and width up to 26 mm.

References

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