Talostolida teres

Talostolida teres
A live individual of Talostolida teres
Five views of a shell of Talostolida teres
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Gastropoda
(unranked): clade Caenogastropoda
clade Hypsogastropoda
clade Littorinimorpha
Superfamily: Cypraeoidea
Family: Cypraeidae
Genus: Talostolida
Species: T. teres
Binomial name
Talostolida teres
(Gmelin, 1791)
Synonyms[1]
  • Blasicrura teres (Gmelin, 1791)
  • Cribraria teres (Gmelin, 1791)
  • Cypraea teres Gmelin, 1791

Talostolida 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]

Subspecies

Recognized subspecies within this species are:

Description

The shells of these quite common cowries reach on average 25–32 millimetres (0.98–1.26 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 Talostolida teres, dorsal view, anterior end towards the right
A shell of Talostolida teres, lateral view, anterior end towards the right
A shell of Talostolida teres, dorsal view, anterior end towards the right
Apertural view

Distribution

This species and the subspecies occur widely in the Red Sea, in the Indian Ocean off 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 the intertidal zone.

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Talostolida teres.


This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Saturday, January 17, 2015. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.