''Tectura virginea'' 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

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

, 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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

Lottiidae Lottiidae is a family (biology), family of sea snails, specifically true limpets, marine (ocean), marine gastropod mollusks in the superfamily Lottioidea and the clade Patellogastropoda (according to the Taxonomy of the Gastropoda (Bouchet & Rocr ...

, one of the families of true limpets. It is commonly known as the white tortoiseshell limpet.The Marine Flora & Fauna of Norway
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Description

''Tectura virginea'' is rather smaller than ''

Testudinalia testudinalis ''Testudinalia testudinalis'', common name the common tortoise limpet, is a species of sea snail, a true limpet, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Lottiidae, one of the families of true limpets. It is commonly known as the plant limpet or ...

'', the tortoiseshell limpet, growing to 15mm in length with a height of 6mm. The shell is white with purplish bands radiating from the apex. which is tilted forward and about a third of the way along the shell. The flesh is creamy coloured or pale pink. The broad foot is oval and the head bears a pair of long tentacles with tiny black eyes located near their base.Marine Species Identification Portal
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Distribution and habitat

The white tortoiseshell limpet is found on the north west coasts of Europe from Norway south to the Mediterranean Sea including the North Sea. It lives in the

neritic zone The neritic zone (or sublittoral zone) is the relatively shallow part of the ocean above the drop-off of the continental shelf, approximately in depth. From the point of view of marine biology it forms a relatively stable and well-illuminate ...

below low water mark down to a depth of about one hundred metres. It favours rock pools and smooth rock covered with encrusting red algae such as ''

Lithothamnion ''Lithothamnion'' is a genus of thalloid red alga comprising 103 species. Its members are known by a number of common names.Recorded common names are griuán, maërl, punalevä-suku, stenhinna and maerl. The monomerous, crustose thalli are compos ...

'' on which it feeds.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1713442 Lottiidae Gastropods described in 1776 Taxa named by Otto Friedrich Müller