Mauritia mauritiana

Mauritia mauritiana
Mauritia mauritiana
A shell of Mauritia mauritiana
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Gastropoda
(unranked): clade Caenogastropoda

clade Hypsogastropoda
clade Littorinimorpha
Superfamily: Cypraeoidea
Family: Cypraeidae
Genus: Mauritia
Species: M. mauritiana
Binomial name
Mauritia mauritiana
(Linnaeus, 1758)
Synonyms[1]

Cypraea mauritiana Linnaeus, 1758 (basionym)

Mauritia mauritiana, common name the Humpback Cowry or the Chocolate Cowry or the Mourning Cowry or the Mauritius Cowry, is a species of tropical sea snail, a cowry, a marine gastropod mollusc in the family Cypraeidae, the cowries.[1]

There is one subspecies : Mauritia mauritiana mauritiana (Linnaeus)

Contents

Description

The shells of these quite common cowries reach on average 65–80 millimetres (2.6–3.1 in) of length, with a minimum size of 43 millimetres (1.7 in) and a maximum size of 130 millimetres (5.1 in). The dorsum surface of these smooth and shiny shells is generally dark brown, with distinct large yellowish or amber dots. The edges of the dorsum and the base are completely dark brown. The aperture is long and narrow, with several dark brown teeth and clear spacing. In the living cowries the mantle is completely black, without sensorial papillae.

A shell of Mauritia mauritiana from Hawaii, dorsal view, anterior end towards the right
Dorsal view of a shell of Mauritia mauritiana from Hawaii, juvenile form

Distribution

Range

This is an Indo-Pacific species (see range map) occurring in the Indian Ocean along South-East Africa and in the western Pacific Ocean (western and northern Australia, Malaysia, Philippines and Hawaii).

Habitat

This species of cowry is normally restricted to exposed habitats such as wave-washed basalt cliffs or breakwaters. Mauritia mauritiana lives in tropical low intertidal water, usually under rocks or in rocky crevices at a minimum depth of about 2 metres (6 ft 7 in), but can be found up to 50 metres (160 ft).

References

  1. ^ a b WoRMS : Mauritia mauritiana; accessed : 20 October 2010
  • 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

External links


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