Tonicella lokii

Tonicella lokii
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Mollusca
Class:	Polyplacophora
Order:	Chitonida
Family:	Tonicellidae
Genus:	Tonicella
Species:	T. lokii
Binomial name
Tonicella lokii Clark, 1999

Tonicella lokii, commonly known as the flame lined chiton or Loki's chiton, is a chiton in the lined chiton genus Tonicella.

Like most chitons in this genus, T. lokii has blue, white, purple or black zig-zaged lines on each of the eight valves. The background color of the valves is often brown or red, but can also be bright blue or yellow to orange. The girdle is hairless and brown to red or pink. It has radiating bands and often bears a yellow or white broken concentric line, alternating with radiating bands.^[1]

Tonicella lineata is extremely similar but does not have radiating bands on the girdle. Tonicella undocaerulea is also very similar but does not have the radiating bands on the girdle and also lacks a dark border to the concentric blue lines on the anterior plate. Mopalia spectabilis looks superficially similar due to its bright blue wavy lines on the valves and its radiating bands on the girdle, but differs in having a hairy girdle.^[2]

• Tonicella lokii in the CalPhotos photo database, University of California, Berkeley
• JaxShells: Tonicella lokii