a. and sb. Zool. [f. L. tect-us covered + branchiæ (Gr. βράγχια) gills.] a. adj. Belonging to the order or suborder Tectibranchiata of gastropod molluscs, comprising marine forms having the gills covered by the mantle, and small shells often concealed by the mantle. b. sb. A gastropod belonging to this division. So Tectibranchian, Tectibranchiate adjs. and sbs. in same senses.
1836–9. Todd’s Cycl. Anat., II. 381/1. The internal or dermic shells are formed in many of the … tectibranchiate orders.
1839. Penny Cycl., XIV. 322/1. Gastropods are divided into the following orders…:—1. Nudibranchians…. 2. Inferobranchians…. 3. Tectibranchians [etc.].
1851. Woodward, Mollusca, I. 34. The respiratory organs form tufts … protected by a fold of the mantle, as in the Inferobranchs and Tectibranchs of Cuvier.
1894. Proc. Zool. Soc., 20 Nov., 666. The posterior pallial lobes of various genera of Bulloid Tectibranchs.
