Tectura virginea

Tectura virginea (Müller, 1776) (Fig. 4C 1, C 2) Patella virginea Müller, 1776: 43. Acmaea virginea – Harmer 1925: 975, pl. 65, fig. 31. Acmaea (Tectura) virginea – Landau et al. 2003: 8, pl. 5, fig. 3. Tectura virginea – Chirli & Linse 2011: 26, pl. 1, fig. 4. — Landau et al. 2017: 79, pl. 2, figs 1-2. For more, see synonymy list in Landau et al. (2003; 2017) MATERIAL AND DIMENSIONS. — Maximum height 8.4 mm, width 2.9 mm. — RGM.1364898 (15), leg. WG; RGM.1364962 (236), leg. ACJ; RGM.1365189 (1), leg. ACJ; RGM.1365060 (54), leg. AWJ. SPECIES CHARACTERISATION. — Shell patelliform, elongate-ovate in profile, apex placed just posterior to centre to close to posterior margin; surface smooth, ribbing suggested in figured specimen due to erosion of surface. DISTRIBUTION. — Middle Miocene: Atlantic of Loire Basin, France (Glibert 1949). — Upper Miocene: Atlantic, NW France (Landau et al. 2017). — Lower Pliocene: Coralline Crag, England (Harmer 1925); central Mediterranean, Italy, (Chirli 2004), Tunisia (Fekih 1975). — Upper Pliocene: NSB, Red Crag, England (Wood 1848; Harmer 1925); Atlantic, Mondego Basin, Portugal (Silva 2001); western Mediterranean, Estepona Basin, S. Spain (Landau et al. 2003); central Mediterranean, Italy (Sacco 1896a). — Lower Pleistocene: Atlantic, Selsoif, France (this paper); central Mediterranean, Italy (Cerulli-Irelli 1916; Ruggieri & Greco 1965; Taviani et al. 1998); eastern Mediterranean, Rhodes Island (Chirli & Linse 2011). — Upper Pleistocene: NSB, Netherlands (Wesselingh & Pouwer 2011); Atlantic, England (Harmer 1925); western Mediterranean, Balearic Islands (Cuerda Barceló 1987). — Holocene: NSB (Strand Petersen 2004). Today this species occurs in the Atlantic, from northern Scandinavia to Cape Verde Islands at 0-100 m depth attached to hard substrates (Poppe & Goto 1991) and in the Mediterranean (Giannuzzi-Savelli et al. 1994) from the Spain (Gofas et al. 2011) coast to the Aegean Sea (Öztürk et al. 2014). REMARKS This species is extremely variable in height and profile and displays few distinct shell characters. Colour pattern is not preserved in the Selsoif material. For further discussion see Landau et al. (2003, 2017).