Leptochiton laurae Schwabe & Sellanes 2010

• Main Author: Sirenko, Boris
• Format: Other/Unknown Material
• Language: unknown
• Published: 2023
• Subjects: Biodiversity; Taxonomy; Animalia; Mollusca; Polyplacophora; Lepidopleurida; Leptochitonidae; Leptochiton; Leptochiton laurae; Southern Ocean; Kerguelen; Heard Island; South Shetland Islands; New Zealand; Aurora Bank; Crozet Islands
• Online Access: https://zenodo.org/record/8247009; https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.8247009

Leptochiton laurae Schwabe & Sellanes, 2010 (Figures 1–3) Leptochiton cf. sykesi Sirenko & Gallardo 2005: 89 [non Leptochiton sykesi (Sowerby III, 1903)] Leptochiton laurae Schwabe & Sellanes 2010: 37–41, figs. 1J, 4, 5A–D; Sirenko 2015: 161, figs. 8A–C, 9–16; Sirenko & Sellanes 2016: 264, figs. 1E, 9–11. Leptochiton cf. laurae; Sirenko 2020: 417, figs. 18–21, 44G, H. Type material. Holotype (ZSM Mol 20070760). Type locality. Chile, off Concepcion, 36º22.19’S, 73º43.36’W, 846 m. Material examined. Southern Ocean, Heard Island, 52.5969°S, 71.9952°E, Locality HIMI-Aurora Bank, 310 m, cruise SC 26, Mol 37, benthic sled, 6 spms, BL 10.0– 14.5 mm, (TMAG, E 26178), 01.05.2003. Distribution. Off Chile, from 34.5°S to the Magellan Strait and Beagle Channel, South Orkney, South Shetland, Kerguelen, Heard and Crozet Islands, south western Australia and New Zealand, 88–1210 m (Sirenko 2020). Remarks. The studied specimen (TMAG E 26178) has BL 11.0 mm and 10 gills per side arranged from valve VII to anus, and a 4.3 mm long radula with 57 transverse rows of mature teeth. Like specimens of this species living off the South Shetland Islands (Sirenko 2015), the Australian specimens I studied (Sirenko 2020) have smooth dorsal scales, which in my opinion is intraspecific variability. Leptochiton laurae belongs to the group of L. sykesi (Sirenko 2020). Published as part of Sirenko, Boris, 2023, A small collection of rare and new chitons (Mollusca: Polyplacophora) from the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, pp. 359-392 in Zootaxa 5325 (3) on page 360, DOI:10.11646/zootaxa.5325.3.3, http://zenodo.org/record/8247001