Scutus

Taxobox
name = "Scutus"


image_caption = "Scutus breviculus" shell
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Mollusca
classis = Gastropoda
ordo = Archaeogastropoda
familia = Fissurellidae
genus = "Scutus"
genus_authority = Blainville, 1817
subdivision_ranks = Species
subdivision = See text.

"Scutus" is a genus of large sea snail or limpets with the common name "shield shells". These are marine gastropod molluscs in the family Fissurellidae, the keyhole limpets and slit limpets.

Both the common name and the Latin name reflect the fact that the shells resemble a Roman shield.

Description

The shell is oblong and shield-like. It has a notch, or an internal groove, to allow a more direct exit of exhalant water currents from the mantle cavity. Unlike many other genera in the family Fissurellidae, the shell has no anal fasciole, slit or perforation.

The animal is a large black slug, many times larger than the shell. It has large blunt tentacles, with eyes at their outer bases.

pecies

* "Scutus anatinus"
* "Scutus antipodes"
* "Scutus breviculus" Blainville, 1817
* "Scutus corrugatus"
* "Scutus elongatus"
* "Scutus granulatus"
* "Scutus howensis"
* "Scutus oblunguis"
* "Scutus parunguis"
* "Scutus rueppelli"
* "Scutus scapha"
* "Scutus sinensis"
* "Scutus unguis"
* "Scutus virgo"

External links

* Powell A. W. B., "New Zealand Mollusca" William Collins Publishers Ltd, Auckland 1979 ISBN 0-00-216906-1
* WikiSpecies