(Linné, 1767)

Description (shell):
Broadly oval, about one and a half times long as wide. Shell valves smoothly arched, rather low, with distinct, low keel and pronounced beaks. Sculpture of very regular, fine granulation, becoming slightly coarser towards margins where growth lines may be enhanced. Head valve with eight or nine anterior ventral notches; intermediate valves typically with one indistinct notch laterally (rarely two), articulamentum developed on each side as a gently convex, semi-elliptical plate. Girdle relatively narrow, densely covered with fine rounded granules; fringed with fusiform spines (L. cinerea-drawing).

Size:
Up to 24 mm long.

Colour:
Colour variable: red, brown, yellow to green, in patches and bands.

Habitat:
Middle to lower shore, and sublittoral.

Distribution:
Widespread and common (Distr. L. cinerea).

Kingdom Animalia
Phylum Mollusca
Class Polyplacophora
Order Lepidopleurida
Family Ischnochitonidae
Genus Lepidochitona
Species Lepidochitona cinerea

Status in World Register of Marine Species

Not included in WoRMS database

Scientific synonyms and common names

Chiton cinereus Linné, 1767 non Chiton cinereus Poli, 1791
Chiton marginatus Pennant, 1777
Chiton cimex Gmelin, 1791
Chiton cimicinus Spengler, 1797 ; partim
Chiton variegatus sensu Philippi, 1836 non Röding, 1798 non Chiton variegatus Röding, 1798
Chiton quinquivalvis Brown, 1823
Chiton fuscatus Brown, 1827
Chiton variegatus Leach, 1852 non Chiton variegatus Röding, 1798 non Chiton variegatus Philippi, 1836
Lepidopleurus carinatus Leach, 1852
Ischnochiton marginatus var. rubrocarinata Dautzenberg & Durouchoux, 1906
Ischnochiton marginatus var. albocarinata Dautzenberg & Durouchoux, 1906
Ischnochiton marginatus var. straminea Dautzenberg & Durouchoux, 1906
Ischnochiton marginatus var. miniata Dautzenberg & Durouchoux, 1906
Ischnochiton marginatus var. adumbrata Dautzenberg & Durouchoux, 1906
Ischnochiton marginatus var. nigrescens Dautzenberg & Durouchoux, 1906

Hayward, P.J., Wigham, G.D. & N. Yonow, 1990. Mollusca I: Polyplacophora, Scaphopoda, and Gastropoda. In: The Marine Fauna of the British Isles and North-West Europe. (ed. P.J. Hayward & J.S. Ryland). Clarendon Press, Oxford: 628-730.

Jones, A.M. & J.M. Baxter, 1987. Molluscs: Caudofoveata, Solenogastres, Polyplacophora and Scaphopoda. Synopses of the British fauna (NS), 37: 1-123.

Poppe, G.T. & Y. Goto, 1991. European Seashells. Vol. I. 352 pp. Wiesbaden/Verlag Christa Hemmen.

Seaward, D.R., 1990. Distribution of the marine molluscs of north west Europe. Nature Conservancy Council.

You can continue searching for Lepidochitona cinerea on one of these Web sites:

Fauna Europaea (animals) | IOPI (plants) | NCBI (genetic)

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