Nierstraszella andamanica ( Smith, 1906 )

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 : 26

Nierstraszella andamanica ( Smith, 1906)

Chresonymy and synonymy from Sigwart (2009b).

Lepidopleurus andamanicus Smith 1906: 251 ; Annandale & Stewart 1909: figs 4, 4a; Winckworth 1940: 19; Rajagopal & Subba Rao 1974: 400; Schwabe 2006a: 20.

Leptochiton andamanicus ; Kaas 1982: 89; Kaas & Van Belle 1980: 7; 1985: 118–120, 128, 179, fig. 52, map 38; 1998: 19.

Nierstraszella andamanica: Sigwart 2009b: 447 –468, figs 1–2, 4–5, tables 1–3, appendix 1 [nomen revictum]; Sigwart et al. 2011: table 3, fig. 2; Yearsley & Sigwart 2011: table 1.

+ Lepidopleurus porosus Leloup 1981: 322 , text figs 5–6, pl. 2 figs 4–6; Kaas & Van Belle 1985: 126; 1998: 148; Sirenko 1992: 84.

+ Lepidopleurus philippinus Leloup, 1981: 322 , text fig. 4, pl. 2 figs 1–3; Sirenko 1992: 84.

Leptochiton philippinus ; Kaas & Van Belle 1998: 143.

Nierstraszella philippina: d'Hondt 2006: 258 ; Sigwart et al. 2007: appendix 1.

Nierstraszella lineata: Sirenko 1992: 84 [in part; included L. andamanicus and all other available names in Nierstraszellidae , as junior synonyms of monotypic N. lineata ; subsequently revised by Sigwart (2009b)].

Material examined. Lepidopleurus andamanicus lectotype ( BMNH 1906.10.12.86) and 3 paralectotypes ( BMNH 1906.10.12.87–89) designated by Kaas & Van Belle (1985: 118); Lepidopleurus philippinus holotype ( MNHN 5981) and 4 paratypes ( MNHN 5988 [2 specimens], 5979, 5980). 10 specimens in 4 lots from Vanuatu, 88 specimens in 15 lots from the Philippines, 349 specimens in 36 lots from the Solomon Islands.

Distribution. Widely distributed in the South Pacific, in the Philippines, Andaman Islands, Indonesia, Solomon Islands, and Vanuatu ( Kaas and & Van Belle 1985; see also Sigwart 2009b); from 195–1775 m. Found living and feeding on sunken terrestrial plant remains.

Remarks. This species (and several junior synonyms) was placed in synonymy with N. lineata by Sirenko (1992). Further examination of the morphology, and particularly the arrangement of the aesthetes, recently led Sigwart (2009b) to resurrect N. andamanica . This species ( N. andamanica ) lacks large raised pustules in the proteinaceous surface layer of the valve tegmentum (which are arranged in zigzag lines diagnostic of N. lineata ), and the aesthetes are arranged in discrete, widely-separated clusters (in N. lineata , the megalaesthetes are irregularly arranged and micraesthetes cover the whole valve surface).