Leptochiton boucheti Sirenko, 2001

Sigwart, Julia D. & Sirenko, Boris I., 2012, Deep-sea chitons from sunken wood in the West Pacific (Mollusca: Polyplacophora: Lepidopleurida): taxonomy, distribution, and seven new species, Zootaxa 3195, pp. 1-38 : 10

Leptochiton boucheti Sirenko, 2001

Leptochiton boucheti Sirenko 2001: 49 –51, figs 65–80, 174–177; 2004: 112, 114–115, table 1; Schwabe 2010: fig. 12D; Sigwart et al. 2011: 567, table 3, figs 1F, 2; Yearsley & Sigwart 2011: table 1.

Boa 1 Pan ‘05 Sal 1 Sal 2

F. xylophaga karenae 12 - - 23

Ischnochitonidae Stenosemus sp. - - - 2 Material examined. Holotype ( MNHN 5821) and 2 paratypes ( MNHN 5820). 25 specimens in 4 lots from Vanuatu.

Distribution. This species was described from the type locality in Vanuatu ( Sirenko 2001); additional material extends the range further around Vanuatu and the Solomon Islands. Found living and feeding on sunken terrestrial plant remains, 522– 850 m.

Remarks. Material of this species is identified by the long, bristle-like girdle armature on the perinotum tongues (intersegmental regions) and on the marginal fringe. Sirenko (2001) believed this was unique among lepidopleuran chitons, although the redescriptions here demonstrate that spicules in “articulating” cupules are common in other allied species of Leptochiton from the South Pacific. L. boucheti is distinguished from other similar species by the arrangement of its aesthetes with a megalaesthete surrounded by eight or nine micraesthetes with protruding caps.