''Fissurella picta'', common name: the painted keyhole limpet, is a

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

sea snail Sea snail is a common name for slow-moving marine gastropod molluscs, usually with visible external shells, such as whelk or abalone. They share the taxonomic class Gastropoda with slugs, which are distinguished from snails primarily by the ...

, a marine

gastropod The gastropods (), commonly known as snails and slugs, belong to a large taxonomic class of invertebrates within the phylum Mollusca called Gastropoda (). This class comprises snails and slugs from saltwater, from freshwater, and from land. T ...

mollusk Mollusca is the second-largest phylum of invertebrate animals after the Arthropoda, the members of which are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 85,000 extant species of molluscs are recognized. The number of fossil species is e ...

in the

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

Fissurellidae, the keyhole limpets. Two subspecies: * ''Fissurella picta lata'' Sowerby, 1835 * ''Fissurella picta picta'' (

Gmelin Gmelin may refer to: * Gmelin's test, a chemical test * Gmelin database, a German handbook/encyclopedia of inorganic compounds initiated by Leopold Gmelin People * Carl Christian Gmelin (1762–1837), German botanist, author of ''Flora Badensis ...

, 1791)

Description

The size of an adult shell varies between 35mm and 100mm.

Distribution

This marine species is distributed in the Pacific Ocean along

Ecuador Ecuador ( ; ; Quechua: ''Ikwayur''; Shuar: ''Ecuador'' or ''Ekuatur''), officially the Republic of Ecuador ( es, República del Ecuador, which literally translates as "Republic of the Equator"; Quechua: ''Ikwadur Ripuwlika''; Shuar: ''Eku ...

and in the Atlantic Ocean along the

Falkland Islands The Falkland Islands (; es, Islas Malvinas, link=no ) is an archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean on the Patagonian Shelf. The principal islands are about east of South America's southern Patagonian coast and about from Cape Dubouzet ...

References

* Ramírez-Böhme Ramírez BoehmeJ. (1974) Nuevas especies chilenas de Lucapina, Fissurella y Collisella (Mollusca, Archaeogastropoda). Boletin, Museo Nacional de Historia Natural antiago de Chile33: 15-34 * Rosenberg, G. 1992. Encyclopedia of Seashells. Dorset: New York. 224 pp. page(s): 36

External links

Sowerby, G. B., I. (1835). [Characters of shells collected by Mr. Cuming on the western coast of South America, and among the islands of the South Pacific Ocean]. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London. 1834: 123–128

Deshayes G.P. (1830-1832). Encyclopédie méthodique ou par ordre de matières. Histoire naturelle des Vers et Mollusques. Vol. 2, part 1: i-vi, 1-256 [Livraison 101, 1 Feb 1830
part 2: 1-144 [Livraison 101, 1 Feb. 1830], 145-594 [Livraison 102, 29 Sept. 1832]. Vol. 3: 595-1152 [Livraison 102, 29 Sept. 1832 ]
McLean J.H. (1984) Systematics of Fissurella in the Peruvian and Magellanic faunal provinces (Gastropoda: Prosobranchia). Contributions in Science, Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County 354: 1–70, p. 49. (29 October 1984)
* Fissurellidae Gastropods described in 1791 Taxa named by Johann Friedrich Gmelin {{Fissurellidae-stub