Chaetopleura lurida
Creators: name: Reyes-Gómez, Adriana
name: Flores-Garza, Rafael
name: Galeana-Rebolledo, Lizeth
name: Hernández-Vera, Gerardo
name: Galván-Villa, Cristian M.
name: Torreblanca-Ramírez, Carmina
name: Flores-Rodríguez, Pedro
name: García-Ibañez, Sergio
name: Ríos-Jara, Eduardo
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2022
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Mollusca
Polyplacophora
Chitonida
Chaetopleuridae
Chaetopleura
Chaetopleura lurida

description: Chaetopleura lurida (G. B. Sowerby I, 1832)
Figures 2A, 3A–J, 4A–C
Distribution. Continuously distributed from Bahía de San Francisquito Baja California; Isla Socorro and Clarión, Revillagigedo, México to northern Colombia, including Gorgona Island (Kaas & Van Belle 1987).
Type specimens. According to Kaas & Van Belle (1987), syntype BMNH 1982006.
Type Locality. Santa Elena, West Colombia.
Material examined. 142 specimens; maximum size 30.9 mm length, 18.2 mm wide. N (n=22); D (n=8); T (n=4); U (n=15); M (n=11); L (n=4); P (n=7); K (n=4); A (n=10), B (n=10); R (n=6); E (n=12); H (n=5); G (n=7); F (n=9); J (n=8); I (n=10).
Habitat and bathymetric range. This species can be found in a variety of habitats. Commonly adult animals (20–30 mm) occur in the shallow subtidal to 7 m depth and on the underside of rocks buried in sand or covered with red and brown crustose algae. Juvenile specimens were usually found in the subtidal (5–10 m depth) on shells or small stones, rarely on larger rocks. Adults are usually covered with bryozoans, polychaetes, and green or red algae that can also be attached to the girdle. Chaetopleura lurida was found together with Chiton albolineatus, C. articulatus, Tonicia forbesii, and Stenoplax limaciformis.
Remarks. Chaetopleura lurida differs from C. hanselmani by the shape of the pustules, which are somewhat cylindrical, and by having the double number of pustules. The maximum length recorded for C. lurida is 30.9 mm, while C. hanselmani can attain up to 11.8 mm.
The sculpturing pattern for this species has been reported to be highly variable (Ferreira 1983a; Kaas & Van Belle 1987); regarding their observations, we also found morphologic distinctions in the sculpturing arrangement and color. The examination of 31 specimens from Baja California Sur (e.g., specimen CNMO 1004 from Isla Partida; Fig. 20I) exhibited in general (from 26 examined chitons) pustules aligned more symmetrically in the lateral areas of intermediate valves, than the specimens from Guerrero and Oaxaca (southern México) that are irregularly scattered nearest the valve´s midline. Regarding the density of pustules, we observed that the chitons (29 specimens) from Sayulita, Nayarit (e.g., CNMO 4651, Fig 20J) showed a higher number of pustule rows in the lateral areas (5–7) than those from Guerrero and Oaxaca (3–5). We also identified a latitudinal pattern of color variation: Oaxaca specimens (e.g., CNMO 5813, Fig. 20G) were usually brown, gray, or occasionally pink, while Guerrero specimens were similar but had more areas with olive green coloration, whereas Mazatlán and Baja California Sur specimens usually had reddish-brown tones with dark zebra-like lines in the lateral areas.
description: Published as part of Reyes-Gómez, Adriana, Flores-Garza, Rafael, Galeana-Rebolledo, Lizeth, Hernández-Vera, Gerardo, Galván-Villa, Cristian M., Torreblanca-Ramírez, Carmina, Flores-Rodríguez, Pedro, García-Ibañez, Sergio & Ríos-Jara, Eduardo, 2022, Intertidal chitons (Mollusca: Polyplacophora) from the rocky coastline of Guerrero, México, with the description of a new species, pp. 451-492 in Zootaxa 5155 (4) on page 456, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5155.4.1, http://zenodo.org/record/6691172