Selection of girdle tufts from Croatia. © J. Prkić.
The perinotum (dorsal surface of girdle) has, adjacent to the anterior edge of each intermediate valve (ii to viii), a sutural tuft of numerous, thin (13µ to 24µ diameter) , non-tapering, needle-like, translucent spicules up to about 2mm long that may be colourless or tinted yellow, brown, pink, magenta or green for part or all of their length. The tail valve (viii) has two tufts at its posterior and the head valve (i) has four tufts at its anterior, making a total of eighteen tufts.

KEY ID FEATURES : 01 Acanthochitona fascicularis