(Sowerby G.B. II, 1840)

Description (shell):
Elongate oval, about twice as long as broad. Smoothly and strongly arched, rounded dorsally, without a keel. Sculpture of fine, regularly ordered granules giving chequered (or cancellate) effect, more pronounced towards margins where growth lines may be enhanced. Edges of valves finely denticulate; articulamentum rounded triangular, with smooth edge. Girdle narrow, covered with overlapping, thin and flat scales, rectangular and varying in size, with free edge often curled; fringed with delicate marginal spines (L. cancellatus-detail).

Size:
Up to 9 mm long.

Colour:
Shell valves yellowish white to fawn.

Habitat:
Lower shore and shallow sublittoral.

Distribution:
Restricted to the British shore (Distr. L. cancellatus).

Kingdom Animalia
Phylum Mollusca
Class Polyplacophora
Order Lepidopleurida
Family Leptochitonidae
Genus Leptochiton
Species Leptochiton cancellatus

Status in World Register of Marine Species

Accepted name: Leptochiton cancellatus (Sowerby, 1840)

Scientific synonyms and common names

Chiton cancellatus Sowerby G.B. II, 1840
Chiton tuberculatus Leach, 1852; non Chiton tuberculatus Linné, 1758
Lepidopleurus sulci Baluk, 1971
Lepidopleurus cancellatus

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.

Kaas, P. & R.A. van Belle, 1985. Monograph of Living Chitons (Mollusca Polyplacophora). Vols 1-4. E. J. Brill, Leiden/New York/København/Köln.

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 Leptochiton cancellatus on one of these Web sites:

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

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