Blasicrura teres

Blasicrura teres
Blasicrura teres
Blasicrura teres
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Gastropoda
(unranked): clade Caenogastropoda
clade Hypsogastropoda
clade Littorinimorpha
Superfamily: Cypraeoidea
Family: Cypraeidae
Genus: Blasicrura
Species: B. teres
Binomial name
Blasicrura teres
(Gmelin, 1791)
Synonyms[1]
  • Cribraria teres (Gmelin, 1791)
  • Cypraea teres Gmelin, 1791

Blasicrura teres, common name the Tapering Cowry, is a species of sea snail, a cowry, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Cypraeidae, the cowries.[1]

Contents

Subspecies

  • Blasicrura teres elatensis Heiman & Mienis, 2002
  • Blasicrura teres janae Lorenz, 2002
  • Blasicrura teres natalensis Heiman & Mienis, 2002
  • Blasicrura teres teres (Gmelin, 1791)
  • Blasicrura teres pellucens (Melvill, 1888)

Description

The shells of these quite common cowries reach on average 25–32 millimetres (0.98–1.3 in) of length, with a minimum size of 8 millimetres (0.31 in) and a maximum size of 44 millimetres (1.7 in). They are very variable in pattern and colour. The shape may be cylindrical or sub-cylindrical. The dorsum surface is smooth and shiny, the basic color is whitish, greenish or pale brown, with irregular dark brown patches, sometimes forming two-three transversal bands. The surface may also be completely grey-greenish. The margins are white or pale brown, with some dark dots and a pronounced labial 'callus'. The base is white or pinkish with fine short teeth. In the living cowries mantle is orange-reddish, with white sensorial papillae. Mantle and foot are well developed, with external antennae.

A shell of Blasicrura teres, dorsal view, anterior end towards the right
A shell of Blasicrura teres, lateral view, anterior end towards the right
A shell of Blasicrura teres, dorsal view, anterior end towards the right
Apertural view

Distribution

This species and the subspecies are widely distributed in the Red Sea, in the Indian Ocean along East Africa and South Africa (Aldabra, Chagos, the Comores, Kenya, Madagascar, the Mascarene Basin, Mauritius, Mozambique, Réunion, the Seychelles, Somalia and Tanzania) and in Western and Eastern Pacific Ocean along Western Australia, Philippines and Hawaii. The subspecies Blasicrura teres pellucens (Melvill, 1888) reach Galapagos and Panama.

Habitat

These cowries live on rocks or under corals in intertidal water.

References

  1. ^ a b Blasicrura teres (Gmel., 1791).  Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=390541.
  • Verdcourt, B. (1954). The cowries of the East African Coast (Kenya, Tanganyika, Zanzibar and Pemba). Journal of the East Africa Natural History Society 22(4) 96: 129-144, 17 pls.
  • Burgess, C.M. (1970). The Living Cowries. AS Barnes and Co, Ltd. Cranbury, New Jersey
  • E.L.Heiman – The Ters Complex - The Teres Complex

External links



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