''Siphonaria compressa'' is a species of small, air-breathing

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 ...

. It is a

pulmonate Pulmonata or pulmonates, is an informal group (previously an order, and before that a subclass) of snails and slugs characterized by the ability to breathe air, by virtue of having a pallial lung instead of a gill, or gills. The group includ ...

limpet Limpets are a group of aquatic snails that exhibit a conical shell shape (patelliform) and a strong, muscular foot. Limpets are members of the class Gastropoda, but are polyphyletic, meaning the various groups called "limpets" descended indep ...

, a

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 ...

in the Siphonariidae family.

Distribution

It is endemic to South Africa. A further site for this false limpet was discovered in 2004 in the Knysna River estuary (S34 03:E23 03) South Africa by Dr B. R. Allanson (the original describer of the species).

Description

The length of the shell is 4-4.5 mm. It is the smallest species of Siphonariidae.

Ecology

This small false limpet lives on the leaves of the marine plant, eelgrass.

References

Siphonariidae Gastropods described in 1958 Taxonomy articles created by Polbot {{Siphonariidae-stub