Erronea errones


Erronea errones, the wandering cowry or erroneous cowry, is a species of sea snail, a cowry, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Cypraeidae, the cowries.

Description

These very common shells reach on average of length, with a maximum size of and a minimum size of. The dorsum is usually pale brown or greenish, with very variable patterns of darker greenish trasversal bands or spots. The base and the teeth of the aperture are white. In the living cowries the papillose greenish mantle grants the camouflage.

Distribution

This species is distributed in the East Indian Ocean along South India, Andaman Islands, Madagascar and Tanzania, as well in West Pacific Ocean along Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, New Caledonia, Samoa and Australia.

Habitat

These cowries live in shallow tropical waters at low tide, usually under rocks or stones, feeding on algae.

Synonyms

  • Cypraea errones, Linnaeus, 1758
  • Cypraea oblonga, Gmelin, J.F., 1791
  • Cypraea bimaculata,
  • Cypraea coxi,
  • Cypraea pusilla, Gmelin, J.F., 1791
  • Cypraea coerulescens, Schroter, J.S., 1804 : E Australia
  • Cypraea ovum, Kiener, L.C., 1843
  • Cypraea chrysophaea, Melvill, J.C., 1888
  • Cypraea compressa, Dautzenberg, Ph., 1903
  • Erronea nimiproba, Iredale, T., 1935
  • Cypraea nimiserrans, Iredale, T., 1935
  • Cypraea magerrones, Iredale, T., 1939 : E Australia
  • Cypraea proba, Iredale, T., 1939 : W Australia
  • Erronea kalavo, Steadman, W.R. & B.C. Cotton, 1943
  • Erronea vivili, Steadman, W.R. & B.C. Cotton, 1943
  • Palmadusta asellus fusca, Coen, G.S., 1949
  • Erronea fusca, Coen, G.S., 1949