Species of the genus Acanthochitona (Mollusca: Polyplacophora) from the Spratly Islands, South China Sea

B.I. Sirenko & T. Nguyen Tai

Abstract. Three species of the genus Acanthochitona Gray, 1821, two of which are rare [A. intermedia (Nierstrasz, 1905) and A. saitoi Sirenko, 2012] and one is new to science (A. spratlyenses sp. nov.), have been collected off the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea, known also as the Truong Sa Islands. Colour and SEM photographs are given for all three species. The new species belongs to the group of acanthochitons that inhabit shoals of Vietnam, the Ryukyu Islands and the Spratly Islands. This group is characterised by the absence of a distinct border between the jugal and pleurolateral areas and merged pustules on the jugal area of the intermediate valves.
Key words: chitons, South China Sea, Spratly Islands, Vietnam, Acanthochitonidae, Acanthochitona, new species

Zoosystematica Rossica, 2021, 30(1): 78-93  ▪  Published online 11 June 2021


https://doi.org/10.31610/zsr/2021.30.1.78  ▪  Open full article  

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