''Puncturella erecta'' is a

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

sea snail Sea snails are slow-moving marine (ocean), marine gastropod Mollusca, molluscs, usually with visible external shells, such as whelk or abalone. They share the Taxonomic classification, taxonomic class Gastropoda with slugs, which are distinguishe ...

, a 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 ...

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

in the

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 ...

Fissurellidae Fissurellidae, common name the keyhole limpets and slit limpets, is a taxonomic family of small to medium-sized limpet-like sea snails, marine gastropod molluscs in the clade Vetigastropoda.Rosenberg, G. (2012). Fissurellidae. Accessed throu ...

, the keyhole limpets.MolluscaBase eds. (2020). MolluscaBase. Puncturella erecta Dall, 1889. Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at: http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=766623 on 2020-09-24

Description

The size of the shell reaches 15 mm.

Distribution

This species occurs in the

Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico () is an oceanic basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, mostly surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north, and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United States; on the southw ...

References

* Dall, W. H. 1927. ''Diagnoses of undescribed new species of mollusks in the collection of the United States National Museum''. Proceedings of the United States National Museum 70(2668): 1–11 * Dall, W. H. 1927. ''Small shells from dredgings off the southeast coast of the United States by the United States Fisheries Steamer 'Albatross' in 1885 and 1886''. Proceedings of the United States National Museum 70(2667): 1–134 Fissurellidae Gastropods described in 1889 {{Fissurellidae-stub