Nucleolaria nucleus

Nucleolaria nucleus, the wrinkled cowry, is a species of sea snail, a cowry, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Cypraeidae, the cowries.[1]

Nucleolaria nucleus
Nucleolaria nucleus, anterior end towards the right
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Mollusca
Class:
Gastropoda
(unranked):
clade Caenogastropoda
clade Hypsogastropoda
clade Littorinimorpha
Superfamily:
Cypraeoidea
Family:
Cypraeidae
Genus:
Nucleolaria
Species:
S. nucleus
Binomial name
Staphylaea nucleus
Synonyms[1]

Cypraea nucleus Linnaeus, 1758 (basionym)

There is one subspecies: Staphylaea nucleus madagascariensis (Gmelin, 1791) (synonym : Cypraea madagascariensis Gmelin, 1791) (common name: the wrinkled cowrie). This subspecies is distributed in the Indian Ocean along Kenya, Madagascar and Tanzania.

Description

These quite rare shells reach on average 16–20 millimetres (0.63–0.79 in) length, with a maximum size of 30 millimetres (1.2 in) and a minimum size of 10 millimetres (0.39 in). This shell is oval, the dorsum surface is light orange-brown with a thin longitudinal line in the middle, many small round protuberances and two orange areas at the extremities. The base is light orange and the small teeth are extended to both sides of the entire base. In the living cowries the mantle is brownish, with well-developed papillae.

Staphylaea nucleus, side view, anterior end towards the right
Staphylaea nucleus, apertural view of a shell

Distribution

This species is distributed in the Red Sea and in the Indian Ocean along Aldabra, Chagos, Kenya, Madagascar, the Mascarene Basin, Mauritius, Réunion, the Seychelles, Somalia and Tanzania, as well in Western Central Pacific Ocean (Philippines, Indonesia, Australia, Guam and Hawaii).

References
  1. Staphylaea nucleus (Linnaeus). WoRMS (2009). Staphylaea nucleus (Linnaeus). Accessed through the World Register of Marine Species at http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=216891 on 19 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 224 96: 129-144, 17 pls.
  • Felix Lorenz and Alex Hubert : A Guide to Worldwide Cowries, second revised edition - Conch Books, 2002
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