User:Rishihamster/Niveotectura

Lead
Niveotectura is a genus of sea snails, the true limpets, marine gastropod mollusks in the family Lottiidae (1). It is also one of the three genera of the larger family Acmaeidae (6).

Species
Species within the genus Niveotectura include:


 * Niveotectura funiculata (2)
 * Niveotectura pallida (3)

Niveotectura myrakeenae is a recently discovered species from the Bering glacier region of southeast Alaska; this species is the first fossil occurrence of the primitive or survived from an earlier period Niveotectura genus in Alaska (7).

Scientific Classification

 * Kingdom: Animalia
 * Phylum: Mollusca
 * Class: Gastropoda
 * Subclass: Patellogastropoda
 * Superfamily: Lottioidea
 * Family: Lottiidae
 * Genus: Niveotectura

Physical Description
The diameter of Niveotectura’s shells can reach up to 5 cm long (7). The shells of Niveotectura pallida specifically are up to 3 cm in length (5). The shells are usually white, and characterized by a conical shape with a strong radial ribbed texture (6, 7). The shells also consist of four layers (7). Like other limpets, they can attach firmly to hard substrates.

Anatomically, they have a single gill and a Radular tooth formula of 0-3-0-3-0 (7). The gill is used to breathe underwater and the radula is used for feeding. The radula in limpets is usually made of chitin and used to scrape their food off of rocks. The radular tooth formula indicates the marginal teeth - lateral teeth - central rachidian tooth - lateral teeth - marginal teeth (10).

Habitat
Niveotectura is restricted to the Northern Hemisphere and reaches its highest levels of diversity in the northern Pacific Ocean, where they are distributed in cold-water regions (6, 7). They have been found so far in the waters of Alaska, Korea, and northern Japan (4, 8).

Niveotectura primarily occurs in subtidal habitats on calcareous substrates (7). Their fossils have been discovered in the Miocene to Pleistocene sediments in northern Pacific regions spanning from Alaska to northern Japan.

The deepest reliable sampling record of Niveotectura was measured off the coast of Okushiri Island, southern Hokkaido, Japan at depths of 67-69 m (9).

Ecology
Niveotectura’s shell surfaces often serve as locations for other small organisms, such as macroalgae, to attach to and live. These organisms find the shells of Niveotectura to be an ideal habitat since this limpet sticks firmly to substrates and therefore doesn’t get turned over very much (5). A study by Shingo et al in 2020 about macroalgal restoration efforts highlights the importance of Niveotectura pallida as a host of macroalgae.

This is critical to the ecosystem because macroalgal beds provide habitats including food and nurseries for many organisms. In the Shingo et al study, researching the different stages in macroalgae development helps understand future restoration efforts. (5).

Diet
Niveotectura limpets graze on crustose coralline algae, which are a hard algae with calcium carbonate in their cell walls (5).

Life History
Niveotectura reproduces sexually.