Lepidopleuridae

Ribbed chiton Lepidopleurus cajetanus, copyright Wilfried Bay-Nouailhat.

Belongs within: Neoloricata.

The Lepidopleuridae are a group of small chitons in which the articulamentum is poorly developed (Smith 1960).

Characters (from Smith 1960): Relatively small (less than 5 cm long); valves generally sculptured with granules closely set in lines or quincunx; valve coverage complete; girdle narrow, minutely spiculose or scaly; insertion plates lacking, or if present, weak and unslit; articulamentum layer usually consisting only of weakly developed sutural laminae in valves ii to viii. Gills short, posterior.

<==Lepidopleuridae [Protochitonidae]
    |--Oldroydia Dall 1894 S60
    |    `--*O. percrassa Dall 1894 S60 [=Lepidopleurus (Oldroydia) percrassus O27]
    |--Protochiton Ashby 1925 S60
    |    `--*P. granulosus (Ashby & Torr 1901) [=Acanthochites (Notoplax) granulosus] S60
    |--Pterochiton Carpenter in Dall 1882 [incl. Anthracochiton Rochebrune 1883, Loricites Carpenter in Dall 1882] S60
    |    `--*P. eburonicus (Ryckholt 1845) [=Chiton eburonicus] S60
    |--Priscochiton Dall 1882 S60
    |    `--*P. canadensis (Billings 1865) [=Chiton canadensis] S60
    |--Parachiton Thiele 1909 P61
    |    |--*P. acuminatus [=Lepidopleurus acuminatus] P61
    |    |--P. subantarcticus Iredale & Hull 1930 P61
    |    `--P. textilis Powell 1937 P61
    |--Terenochiton Iredale 1914 P61
    |    |--*T. subtropicalis [=Lepidopleurus subtropicalis] P61
    |    |--T. fairchildi Iredale & Hull 1929 P61
    |    |--T. finlayi (Ashby 1929] P61
    |    |--T. inquinatus (Reeve 1847) P61 [=Lepidopleurus inquinatus F27; incl. L. iredalei Ashby 1920 F27]
    |    `--T. otagoensis Iredale & Hull 1929 P61
    `--Lepidopleurus Risso 1826 S-P86 (see below for synonymy)
         |--*L. cajetanus (Poli 1791) [=Chiton cajetanus] S60
         |--L. asellus MR96
         |--L. cancellatus Sowerby 1839 O27
         |--L. heathi Berry 1919 [=L. (Xiphiozona) heathi] O27
         |--L. intermedius Salvini-Plawen 1968 S-P86
         |--L. kerguelenensis F27
         |--L. laterodepressus S60
         |--L. pectinatus Carpenter 1864 C64
         |--L. regularis Cpr. 1855 C64
         `--L. tenuisculptus C64

Lepidopleurus Risso 1826 S-P86 [incl. Belchiton Ashby & Cotton 1939 S60, Deshayesiella Carpenter in Dall 1879 S60, Pilsbryella Nierstrasz 1905 S60, Xiphizona Berry 1919 S60]

*Type species of generic name indicated

REFERENCES

[C64] Carpenter, P. P. 1864. Supplementary report on the present state of our knowledge with regard to the Mollusca of the west coast of North America. Report of the British Association for the Advancement of Science 33: 517–686.

[F27] Finlay, H. J. 1927. A further commentary on New Zealand molluscan systematics. Transactions and Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute 57: 320–485.

[MR96] Morse, M. P., & P. D. Reynolds. 1996. Ultrastructure of the heart-kidney complex in smaller classes supports symplesiomorphy of molluscan coelomic characters. In: Taylor, J. D. (ed.) Origin and Evolutionary Radiation of the Mollusca pp. 89–97. Oxford University Press: Oxford.

[O27] Oldroyd, I. S. 1927. The Marine Shells of the West Coast of North America vol. 2 pt 3. Stanford University Press: Stanford University (California).

[P61] Powell, A. W. B. 1961. Shells of New Zealand: An illustrated handbook 4^th ed. Whitcombe and Tombs Limited: Christchurch.

[S-P86] Salvini-Plawen, L. v. 1986. Lower Mollusca. In: Botosaneanu, L. (ed.) Stygofauna Mundi: A Faunistic, Distributional, and Ecological Synthesis of the World Fauna inhabiting Subterranean Waters (including the Marine Interstitial) pp. 148–152. E. J. Brill/Dr W. Backhuys: Leiden.

[S60] Smith, A. G. 1960. Amphineura. In: Moore, R. C. (ed.) Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology pt I. Mollusca 1: Mollusca—General Features, Scaphopoda, Amphineura, Monoplacophora, Gastropoda—General Features, Archaeogastropoda and some (mainly Paleozoic) Caenogastropoda and Opisthobranchia pp. I41–I76. Geological Society of America, and University of Kansas Press.