Acanthopleura miles (Carpenter in Pilsbry, 1893)

Dell’Angelo, Bruno, Gori, Sandro, Baschieri, Leonardo & Bonfitto, Antonio, 2010, Chitons (Mollusca, Polyplacophora) from the Maldive islands, Zootaxa 2673 (1), pp. 1-38 : 18

Acanthopleura miles (Carpenter in Pilsbry, 1893)

( Figures 12I )

Chiton (Sclerochiton) miles Carpenter in Pilsbry 1893: 189, pl. 46, figs 1–5; E.A. Smith 1903: 619.

Acanthopleura miles ; Ferreira, 1986: 239, figs 41–47, 115 (bibliography and synonymy); Britton & Morton 2003: 55; Brooker 2003: 52, figs 5.23, 6.21, 7.22, 8.20; Yoshioka & Nakashima 1996: 41, figs 1D, 3–6; Yoshioka 1997: 254, fig. 2; Yoshioka et al. 1999: 79, fig. 2; Saito 2006: 122, fig. 6F.

Squamopleura miles ; Slieker 2000: 54, pl. 14, fig. 10; Kaas et al. 2006: 289, fig. 117 (bibliography and synonymy); Schwabe 2006: 111.

Type: Holotype, NHM 198017

Type locality: Australia, Torres Strait .

Material examined: Japan, Okinawa, Sesoko Island: 1 spm (B. Dell’Angelo colln 4540).

Remarks: A detailed description of this species is given by Kaas et al. (2006).

We attribute this species to the genus Acanthopleura following Brooker (2003). This author, on the basis of a cladistic analysis based on a high number of characters (222), concludes that the position of the three species that formerly belonged to the genus Squamopleura [ Acanthopleura curtisiana ( Smith, 1884) , A. miles (Carpenter in Pilsbry, 1893), and A. araucariana (Hedley, 1898) ] has a terminal clade within Acanthopleura and this justifies Ferreira’s (1986) synonymy of this genus with Acanthopleura . This synonymy has not been without controversy, and mainly relates to the various definitions of scales as opposed to spines.

Smith (1903) reported the species from Maldives but we failed to find this species, and give an illustration of a specimen from Japan.

Distribution: Acanthopleura miles is a very common intertidal species, widely distributed in the Indo- Pacific, from the Maldive Islands and Sri Lanka in the west to New Guinea in the east, and from Taiwan, the Philippines, and Japan in the north to northwestern Australia in the south.

Figures

FIGURE 12A, Parachiton hylkiae mauricejayi Schwabe, 2002, living specimen, Maldive, LB03B, length 12.8 mm. B, Ischnochiton albinus Thiele, 1911, living specimen, Maldive, M13, length 5.2 mm. C, Ischnochiton feliduensis E.A. Smith, 1903, Maldive, Felidhoo Atoll, Holotype, NHM 1903.9.17.25, length 6 mm. D, Tegulaplax hululensis (E.A. Smith, 1903), living specimen, Maldive, M28, length 10.5 mm. E–F, Callochiton sp., S. Nilandu Atoll, Maldive, NHM 1903.4.11.71 (living specimen collected by J.S. Gardiner), length 6.6 mm. G, Lucilina sp., living specimen, Maldive, M07, length 4 mm. H, Lucilina indica (Leloup, 1981), holotype (MNHN), Madagascar, Tuléar, length 8 mm. I, Acanthopleura miles (Carpenter in Pilsbry, 1893), living specimen, Japan, Okinawa, Sesoko Island, length 29.2 mm. J, Schizochiton incisus (Sowerby, 1841), living specimen, Indonesia: inside lagoon of Woka Island, off South Halmahera, 1°2.02’S, 128°13.97’E (ZSM Mol 20052075), length 40 mm. K, Acanthochitona penicillata (Deshayes, 1863), living specimen, Maldive, MLD04A, length 6.5 mm. L, Craspedochiton cf. laqueatus (Sowerby, 1842), living specimen, Maldive, M59, length 13.5 mm. M–Q, Craspedochiton laqueatus (Sowerby, 1842), NHM type material, Philippines, Mindoro, Calapan. M, lectotype (NHM 1988071/1), length 17.4 mm. N, paralectotype (NHM 1988071/2), length 17.5 mm. O–Q, paralectotypes (NHM 1988071/3-5), length respectively 16, 13.2 and 11.3 mm. R–S, Cryptoplax burrowi (E.A. Smith, 1884), living specimen, Maldive, M07, length ca. 11.7 mm. T, Cryptoplax burrowi (E.A. Smith, 1884), living specimen, Indonesia, ZSM Mol 20033081, length 25.4 mm. U–X, Cryptoplax burrowi (E.A. Smith, 1884), NHM 1992 053, syntypes, H. Cuming colln., Port Adelaide, S. Australia, length respectively 56.4, 38.5, 47 and 45.1 mm.