Patellogastropoda
subclass of gastropods
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 deemed monophyletic based on phylogenetic analysis.
Taxonomy
Patellogastropoda was proposed by David R. Lindberg, 1986, as an order, and was later included in the subclass Eogastropoda Ponder & Lindberg, 1996.
2005 taxonomy
Bouchet & Rocroi, 2005 designated Patellogastropoda, true limpets, as a clade, rather than as a taxon, but within included superfamilies and families as listed below. Families that are exclusively fossil are indicated with a dagger †:
Superfamily Patelloidea
Family Patellidae
Superfamily Nacelloidea
Family Nacellidae
Superfamily Lottioidea
Family Lottiidae
Family Acmaeidae Forbes, 1850
subfamily Acmaeinae Forbes, 1850
subfamily Pectinodontinae Pilsbry, 1891
subfamily Rhodopetalinae Lindberg, 1981
Family Lepetidae
Superfamily Neolepetopsoidea
Family Neolepetopsidae
† Family Damilinidae
† Family Lepetopsidae
With the exception of calling Patellogastropoda a clade rather than an order, as was previously the case in Ponder and Lindberg, 1997 the taxon has not changed much, differing more in the arrangement of its content rather than in the overall composition. Bouchet and Rocroi omitted Ponder and Lindberg's suborders, and added in the superfamily Neolepetopsoidea.
2007 taxonomy
Nakano & Ozawa (2007) made many changes in the taxonomy of the Patellogastropoda, based on molecular phylogeny research: Acmaeidae is a synonym of Lottiidae; Pectinodontinae is elevated to Pectinodontidae; new family Eoacmaeidae with the new type genus Eoacmaea is established.
A cladogram based on sequences of mitochondrial 12S ribosomal RNA, 16S ribosomal RNA and cytochrome-c oxidase I (COI) genes showing phylogenic relations of Patellogastropoda by Nakano & Ozawa (2007) and superfamilies based on World Register of Marine Species:
Note that the family Neolepetopsidae is not in the cladogram above, because its members were not genetically analyzed by Nakano & Ozawa (2007). However, two Neolepetosidae species Eulepetopsis vitrea and Paralepetopsis floridensis were previously analyzed by Harasewych & McArthur (2000), who confirmed their placement within Acmaeoidea/Lottioidea based on analysis of partial 18S rDNA. The Damilinidae and Lepetopsidae are also not included in the cladogram, because they are exclusively fossil families. All of these three families belong to superfamily Lottioidea.
“Patellogastropoda” enters the record as subclass of gastropods. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Patellogastropoda, subclass and gastropods can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Patellogastropoda” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Patellogastropoda, subclass and gastropods provides the most credible route into that argument.
The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Feb 3, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q3463993. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1986, 1996, 2005 and 1850.
Overview language is designed for orientation and should not be treated as a substitute for the evidence cited beneath it. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
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This entry incorporates text from “Patellogastropoda” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.