Naria erosa

Naria erosa
	Naria erosa, anterior end is to the left
	Five views of a shell of Naria erosa chlorizans
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Mollusca
Class:	Gastropoda
Subclass:	Caenogastropoda
Order:	Littorinimorpha
Family:	Cypraeidae
Subfamily:	Erosariinae
Genus:	Naria
Species:	N. erosa
Binomial name
	Naria erosa; (Linnaeus, 1758)
Synonyms
	Cypraea (Luponia) erosa Linnaeus, 1758; Cypraea erosa Linnaeus, 1758 (basionym); Cypraea flavicula Lamarck, 1810; Erosaria erosa (Linnaeus, 1758);

Naria erosa, common name the gnawed or eroded cowry, is a species of sea snail, a cowry, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Cypraeidae, the cowries.^[1]

Subspecies

Naria erosa chlorizans (Melvill, 1888)
Naria erosa erosa (Linnaeus, 1758)

Description

The shell of these quite common cowries reaches on average 32–38 millimetres (1.3–1.5 in) in length, with a maximum size of 75 millimetres (3.0 in) and a minimum adult size of 15 millimetres (0.59 in). The dorsum is yellow-ocher or pale brown, with many small white spots. The extremities of the shell show dark brown spots. A dark brown area which is roughly rectangular is present on each side close to the edge. The base is white to light beige, with thin transverse stripes.

At night in the living cowries, the extremely papillose brownish mantle usually covers the shell completely, camouflaging the animal.

Distribution

This species and its subspecies occur in the Indian Ocean along the coasts of Aldabra, Chagos, the Comores, the East Coast of South Africa, Kenya, Madagascar, the Mascarene Basin, Mauritius, Mozambique, Réunion, the Seychelles, Somalia and Tanzania, as well in the Western Pacific Ocean (Malaysia, Australia, Philippines, Polynesia and Hawaii).

Habitat

These cowries live in warm tropical waters, on shallow intertidal reefs or in lagoons at about 2–10 metres (6 ft 7 in – 32 ft 10 in) of depth. Like most other cowries, during the day they usually hide under rocks slabs with the mantle drawn into the shell. They feed only at dawn or dusk.

References

^ ^a ^b Naria erosa. Retrieved through: World Register of Marine Species on 6 January 2019.

Lorenz, F. (2017). Cowries. A guide to the gastropod family Cypraeidae. Volume 1, Biology and systematics. Harxheim: ConchBooks. 644 pp.

External links

This Cypraeidae-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

[WoRMS-1] Naria erosa. Retrieved through: World Register of Marine Species on 6 January 2019.

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