Patellidae is a taxonomic

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

of true limpets, marine

gastropod Gastropods (), commonly known as slugs and snails, belong to a large Taxonomy (biology), taxonomic class of invertebrates within the phylum Mollusca called Gastropoda (). This class comprises snails and slugs from saltwater, freshwater, and fro ...

mollusc Mollusca is a phylum of protostome, protostomic invertebrate animals, whose members are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 76,000 extant taxon, extant species of molluscs are recognized, making it the second-largest animal phylum ...

s in the superfamily Patelloidea. (The superfamily Patelloidea should not be confused with the similar-sounding genus of true limpets '' Patelloida'' which is in the family Lottiidae within the superfamily Lottioidea, also part of the

Patellogastropoda The Patellogastropoda, common name true limpets and historically called the Docoglossa, are members of a major phylogenetic group of marine (ocean), marine gastropods, treated by experts either as a clade or as a taxonomic Order (biology), order. ...

.) The largest known limpet in the world is '' Scutellastra mexicana'' that can reach in length.

Taxonomy

cladogram A cladogram (from Greek language, Greek ''clados'' "branch" and ''gramma'' "character") is a diagram used in cladistics to show relations among organisms. A cladogram is not, however, an Phylogenetic tree, evolutionary tree because it does not s ...

showing phylogenic relations of Patellogastropoda based on

molecular phylogeny Molecular phylogenetics () is the branch of phylogeny that analyzes genetic, hereditary molecular differences, predominantly in DNA sequences, to gain information on an organism's evolutionary relationships. From these analyses, it is possible to ...

research by Nakano & Ozawa (2007):

Genera

There are four extant genera in the family Patellidae: * '' Cymbula'' H. & A. Adams, 1854 * '' Helcion'' Montfort, 1810 * ''

Patella The patella (: patellae or patellas), also known as the kneecap, is a flat, rounded triangular bone which articulates with the femur (thigh bone) and covers and protects the anterior articular surface of the knee joint. The patella is found in m ...

Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné,#Blunt, Blunt (2004), p. 171. was a Swedish biologist and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the modern system of naming o ...

1758 Events January–March * January 1 – Swedish biologist Carl Linnaeus (Carl von Linné) publishes in Stockholm the first volume (''Animalia'') of the 10th edition of ''Systema Naturae'', the starting point of modern zoologic ...

* '' Scutellastra'' H. Adams & A. Adams, 1854 There are two exclusively fossil genera: * † '' Berlieria'' de Loriol, 1903 * † '' Proscutum'' P. Fischer, 1885

Synonyms

Synonyms include the following: * ''Ansates'' G.B. Sowerby II x Klein 1839: synonym of ''Patella'' Linnaeus, 1758 * ''Laevipatella'' Pallary, 1920: synonym of ''Cymbula'' H. Adams & A. Adams, 1854 * ''Patellanax'' Iredale, 1924: synonym of ''Scutellastra'' H. Adams & A. Adams, 1854 (junior synonym) * ''Patellidea'' Thiele, 1891: synonym of ''Scutellastra'' H. Adams & A. Adams, 1854 * ''Patellona'' Thiele, 1891: synonym of ''Cymbula'' H. Adams & A. Adams, 1854 * ''Patina'' Gray, 1847: synonym of ''Patella'' Linnaeus, 1758 * ''Patinastra'' Thiele, 1891: synonym of ''Helcion'' Montfort, 1810 * ''Penepatella'' Iredale, 1929: synonym of ''Scutellastra'' H. Adams & A. Adams, 1854 (junior synonym)

Human uses

Some limpet species in this family are used as a food source in various countries. A study of '' Patella caerulea'' found that this limpet reduced the cover of

alga Algae ( , ; : alga ) is an informal term for any organisms of a large and diverse group of photosynthetic organisms that are not plants, and includes species from multiple distinct clades. Such organisms range from unicellular microalgae, suc ...

e and

barnacle Barnacles are arthropods of the subclass (taxonomy), subclass Cirripedia in the subphylum Crustacean, Crustacea. They are related to crabs and lobsters, with similar Nauplius (larva), nauplius larvae. Barnacles are exclusively marine invertebra ...

s on steel panels suspended in sea water in a commercial port, suggesting that the limpet could be used to inhibit fouling of ship hulls.Safriel U. N. & Erez N. 1987. ''Effect of limpets on the fouling of ships in the Mediterranean''. Marine Biology, 95(4): 531-537.

References

* Nakano T. & Sasaki T. (2011) Recent advances in molecular phylogeny, systematics and evolution of patellogastropod limpets. Journal of Molluscan Studies 77: 203–217.

External links