Leptochiton foresti ( Leloup, 1981 )

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 : 11

Leptochiton foresti ( Leloup, 1981)

Lepidopleura [sic] foresti Leloup 1981: 321 , text fig. 2, pl. 2, figs 7–10.

Leptochiton foresti: Kaas 1982: 88 ; Kaas & Van Belle 1985: 122 –124, fig. 54, map 44; Sigwart 2008a: tables 1–2, fig. 2B; Sigwart et al. 2011: 567, table 3, fig. 2.

Material examined. Holotype ( MNHN 5878) and 4 paratypes ( MNHN 5945, 5946, 5950, 5951). 56 specimens in 13 lots from the Philippines.

Distribution. Philippines, known from the region 9–14° N, 120–123° E, generally found in 137–484 m (summarised in Kaas & Van Belle 1985). Two new records reported here are from deeper waters, 982–989 m (Panglao 2005 sta. CP2385) and the deepest record for the species, 1764 m (Panglao 2005 sta. CP2356).

Remarks. This species has perhaps the most distinctive and easily identified sculpture of any of the South Pacific Leptochiton spp., with around 50 well-separated longitudinal rows of round granules on the central area of intermediate valves and radiating chains of flatter granules on the lateral areas (see Kaas & Van Belle 1985: fig. 54). Kaas & Van Belle (1985) erroneously reported that L. foresti has 16–18 gills per side. The species consistently has 10 gills per side in adult specimens, confirmed here by re-examination of the type series.