Propilidium exiguum (W. Thompson, 1844)
Lofoten to Shetland, ireland to Azores, to Mediterranean.
Micrograzer in the circalittoral, down to bathyal depths.
Original taxon: Patella exigua.
Synonyms: ancyloides, scabrosum
500m deep, on muddy bottom, Capraia Isola, Archipelago Toscano, W. Italy. 3mm.
Patella ancyloides in E. Forbes: “On some new and rare British mollusca”, Annals and Magazine of Natural History vol. V, London 1840, p.108: « A shell so nearly resembling an Ancylus, that had I not dredged it, I should have looked on it as such. The apex is more incurved than in any of our other species of smaller Patellae, and the shell much more conical. »
Top view of the apex.
Another specimen from the same spot. 2,5mm.
500m deep, Isola Capraia. 4,2mm.
Source: gruppomalacologicoscalaria.org.
Original pictures provided by A. Nappo (IT).
– (CC BY-NC-SA) –

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