Description ⁴

Oval, high arched chiton, up to 30mm long, 18mm wide. Similar to the snakeskin chiton Sypharochiton pelliserpentis, but has no parallel scoring/ridges from back to front of each plate, and the fans of beaded radial ridges are small or non existent.

Suter describes as "Colour brown-black, each valve irregularly and raggedly striped with whitish, the head valve rarely pale with dark rays ; sometimes the white predominates ; girdle banded with light blue and black, the inner rows of scales mostly light brown (I'd call it orange -ed.)." Powell describes it as pale greenish, with irregular dark green streaks.

Front plate with up to 30 beaded ridges, rear plate with up to 14 beaded ridges. The intermediate plates have 3 or 4 beaded radials but these are sometimes barely visible.

Distribution ⁴

Found in the lower intertidal zone, in rock pools and under boulders/stones. North Island, South Island and Stewart Island. Suter said it occurs in the Chatham Islands, but the later work by Powell specifically said it did not.

Synonyms ⁴

Sypharochiton sinclairi (Gray, 1843)

References ⁴

New Zealand Mollusca, Marine Land and Freshwater Shells, A W B Powell, 1979
Manual of the New Zealand Mollusca. Henry Suter, 1913

Sources and Credits

1. (c) Tony Wills, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), uploaded by Tony Wills
2. (c) tangatawhenua, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), uploaded by tangatawhenua
3. Tony Wills, no known copyright restrictions (public domain), uploaded by Tony Wills
4. (c) Tony Wills, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA)

More Info

• iNat taxon page
• Animal Diversity Web
• Biodiversity Heritage Library
• BOLD Systems BIN search
• Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF)
• SeaLifeBase
• World Register of Marine Species

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