Cryptoconchus porosus

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Cryptoconchus porosus
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Polyplacophora
Order: Chitonida
Suborder: Acanthochitonina
Superfamily: Cryptoplacoidea
Family: Acanthochitonidae
Subfamily: Acanthochitoninae
Genus: Cryptoconchus
Species: C. porosus
Binomial name
Cryptoconchus porosus
(Burrow, 1815)
Synonyms

Chiton porosus Burrow, 1815
Cryptoplax depressus Blainville, 1818
Chiton leachi Blainville, 1825
Chiton monticularis Quoy and Gaimard, 1835
Cryptoconchus stewartianus Rochebrune, 1882
Acanthochites porosus Suter, 1913

Cryptoconchus porosus, or the butterfly chiton, is a species of large chiton or "coat of mail shell", a marine polyplacophoran mollusk in the family Acanthochitonidae.

[edit] Distribution

This species of chiton is endemic to New Zealand.

[edit] Description

This is a large, long, thick, and fleshy chiton, with a sky-blue or occasionally pinkish or orange tinged valves, hidden under the girdle, which varies from dull orange to dark greenish.

The length is 73 mm, and width 33 mm, but these measurements are from a dried specimen, and the animal is much larger in life.

[edit] References