Lepidochitona simrothi (Thiele, 1902)

Avila, Sergio P. & Sigwart, Julia, 2013, New records for the shallow-water chiton fauna (Mollusca, Polyplacophora) of the Azores (NE Atlantic), ZooKeys 312, pp. 23-38 : 28

Lepidochitona simrothi (Thiele, 1902) Figs 6-7

Records for the area.

Kaas and Van Belle (1981, 1985b), Van Belle (1984), Kaas (1991), Bullock (1995), Morton et al. (1998), Macedo et al. (1999), Ávila et al. (2000a, b), Ávila and Albergaria (2002).

Distribution and biotope.

Azores ( Kaas and Van Belle 1981; Ávila and Albergaria 2002) and Portugal ( Zalvide et al. 2000). Littoral and sublittoral to 14 m depth.

Material examined.

Faial (3-6 m depth: DBUA 803, 3 spm), Flores (all samples collected in the intertidal zone: DBUA 190, 3 spm; DBUA 191, 1 spm; DBUA 193, 1 spm; DBUA 524, 1 spm; DBUA 554, 6 spm; DBUA 562, 17 spm), Formigas Islets (intertidal zone: DBUA 337, 5 spm; DOP/ML 0032, 1 spm), Pico (0-3 m depth: DBUA 457, 1 spm; DBUA 458, 2 spm; DBUA 459, 1 spm; DBUA 461, 1 spm; DBUA 465, 2 valves; DBUA 475, 1 valve; DBUA 662, 2 spm); São Miguel (intertidal zone down to 14 m depth: DBUA 625, 1 spm; DBUA 715, 3 spm; DBUA 732, 3 spm; DBUA 740, 28 spm; DBUA 741, 8 spm; DBUA 744, 64 spm; DBUA 745, 39 spm; DBUA 746, 16 spm; DBUA 747, 1 spm; DBUA 793, 1 spm).

Fossil record.

No fossil representatives are known from the Azores.

Description (abridged).

Animal rather small (up to 8 × 4 mm), dorsal elevation ratio = 0.37 ( Kaas and Van Belle 1985b), elongate oval in outline. Tegmentum with round granules. Tail valve very small. Girdle densely covered with small calcareous pustules and distinctive curved spines randomly scattered throughout perinotum armature.

Remarks.

Specimens recorded by Hawkins et al. (1990: 27-28) and Azevedo (1991: 29) probably belong to this species but were not identified at species level. These specimens were not present in the DBUA collection and could not be examined by the authors. The image of Lepidochitona sp. ( Macedo et al. 1999: 75) represents a specimen of Lepidochitona simrothi . This is the most common chiton in the Azores.