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Volume 60, 1930
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Classification Of Polyplacophora

(Partial Revision).

The discovery of the end valves, in addition to the median ones, of the fossil Protochiton granulosus Ashby and Torr, has made it quite clear that this species could not have been derived through any members of the Lepidopleuridae, and its evident relation to the Acanthoid Group of Chitons makes necessary a partial revision in the previously accepted conception of the Classification of Polyplacophora. This revision was foreshadowed in my Phylogenetic Diagram (Trans. N.Z. Inst., vol. 58, p. 407, 1927). I now present

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a revised classification, made necessary by the adoption of this new conception. This list includes all the species of New Zealand Chitons dealt with in my four papers on New Zealand Polyplacophora: “The Acanthoid Chitons of N.Z.” “The Rediscovery of Tonicia cuneata,” “N.Z. Fossil Polyplacophora,” and the present paper.

As previously mentioned, Iredale and Hull have dismissed the family Lepidopleuridae with the unsupported opinion that they are degenerates; and, while admitting the close relationship of Protochiton with the Acanthoid Group, attribute its primitive characters to degeneracy.

Class Amphineura
Order Polyplacophora Blainville.

  • (Primitive) Suborder Eoplacophora Pilsbry, 1900. (Fossil only)

  • Family Gryphochitonidae Pilsbry, 1900.

  • Suborder Protochitonina Ashby, 1928.

  • Family Protochitonidae Ashby, 1925. (Fossil only)

  • Family Acanthochitonidae Hedley, 1916.

  • Subfamily Acanthochitoninae Ashby, 1925.

  • Genus Acanthochiton Gray em. 1821.

  • Acanthochiton zealandicus Quoy and Gaimard, 1835

  • A. doubtlessensis Ashby, 1926.

  • A. thileniusi Thiele, 1900.

  • A. brookesi Ashby, 1926.

  • Genus Notoplax H. Adams, 1861.

  • Subgenus Loboplax Pilsbry, 1893.

  • Notoplax (Loboplax) violaceus Quoy and Gaimard, 1835.

  • Subgenus Amblyplax Ashby, 1926.

  • Notoplax (Amblyplax) oliveri Ashby, 1926.

  • N. (A.) foveauxensis Ashby, 1926.

  • N. (A.) rubiginosus Hutton, 1872.

  • N. (A.) mariae Webster, 1908.

  • N. (A.) mariae stewartiana Thiele, 1909.

  • N. (A.) mariae haurakiensis Ashby, 1926.

  • N. (A.) brookesi Ashby, 1929.

  • Cryptoconchus porosus Burrow, 1815.

  • Genus Lophoplax Ashby, 1926.

  • Lophoplax finlayi Ashby, 1926.

  • Genus Pseudotonicia Ashby, 1926.

  • Pseudotonicia cuneata Suter, 1908.

  • (Primitive) Suborder Lepidopleurina Thiele, 1910.

  • Family Lepidopleuridae Pilsbry, 1892.

  • Genus Lepidopleurus Risso, 1826.

  • Lepidopleurus inquinatus Reeve, 1847.

  • L. columnarius Hedley and May, 1908.

  • L. finlayi Ashby, 1929.

  • L. clifdenensis Ashby, 1929 (Fossil).

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  • (Advanced) Suborder Chitonina Thiele, 1910.

  • Family Callochitonidae Thiele, 1910.

  • Genus Callochiton Gray, 1847.

  • Callochiton platessa Gould, 1846.

  • C. mortenseni Odhner, 1924.

  • C. empleurus Hutton, 1872.

  • C. klemi Ashby, 1926.

  • C. kapitiensis Mestayer, 1926.

  • C. chattonensis Ashby, 1929 (Fossil).

  • Genus Eudoxochiton Shuttleworth, 1853.

  • Eudoxochiton nobilis, Gray, 1843.

  • Family Mopaliidae Pilsbry, 1892.

  • Family Ischnochitonidae Pilsbry, 1892.

  • Genus Ischnochiton Gray, 1847.

  • Ischnochiton campbelli Filhol, 1880.

  • Family Chitonidae Pilsbry, 1892.

  • Subfamily Chitoninae Pilsbry, 1892.

  • Genus Chiton Linné, 1758.

  • Subgenus Rhyssoplax Thiele, 1893.

  • Chiton (Rhyssoplax) canaliculatus Q. and G., 1834.

  • Subfamily Liolophurinae Pilsbry, 1893.

  • Subfamily Acanthopleurinae Thiele, 1910.

  • Genus Onithochiton Gray, 1847.

  • Onithochiton neglectus Rochebrune, 1880–1.

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