Tectisumen

Taxobox
name = "Tectisumen"


image_caption =
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Mollusca
classis = Gastropoda
subclassis = Orthogastropoda
infraclassis = Cocculiniformia
superfamilia = Lepetelloidea
familia = Lepetellidae
genus = "Tectisumen"
genus_authority = Finlay, 1927
subdivision_ranks = Species
subdivision = See text.

"Tectisumen" is a genus of very small deepwater limpets, marine gastropod molluscs in the family Lepetellidae.

Distribution

Species in this genus are found world-wide.

Habitat

Members of the genus are found at depths of between 90 and 600 m.

Description

These small limpets have their shell apex directed posteriorly, and have rhipidoglossate dentition (that is, with central, lateral, and marginal teeth). The shells are small, saddle-shaped, evidently evolved to achieve contact with a concave surface. They have been found attched to the inside wall of old polychaete tubes.

The radula formula is 2+1+1+1+2, the central tooth has only one large rounded cusp, and the marginals are reduced to two.

pecies in the genus "Tectisumen"

* "Tectisumen clypidellaeformis" (Suter, 1908)
* "Tectisumen mayi"

References

* Powell A. W. B., "New Zealand Mollusca", William Collins Publishers Ltd, Auckland, New Zealand 1979 ISBN 0-00-216906-1
* [http://zipcodezoo.com/Animals/T/Tectisumen_mayi.asp ZipCodeZoo]