Erronea caurica

Erronea caurica, common name the thick-edged cowry, is a species of sea snail, a cowry, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Cypraeidae, the cowries.^[1]

Erronea caurica
Erronea caurica, dorsal view
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Mollusca
Class:	Gastropoda
Subclass:	Caenogastropoda
Order:	Littorinimorpha
Family:	Cypraeidae
Genus:	Erronea
Species:	E. caurica
Binomial name
Erronea caurica (Linnaeus, 1758)
Synonyms[1]
Cypraea caurica Linnaeus, 1758 Cypraea derosa Gmelin, 1791 Cypraea lurica (misspelling) Erronea caurica corrosa (Gronovius, 1781) (unavailable name) Ovatipsa caurica (Linnaeus, 1758)

Subspecies

The following subspecies are recognized :

• Erronea caurica algida Bozzetti, 2018
• Erronea caurica blaesa Iredale, 1939
• Erronea caurica caurica (Linnaeus, 1758)
• Erronea caurica chrismeyeri Lorenz, 2017
• Erronea caurica dracaena (Born, 1778)
• Erronea caurica elongata (Perry, 1811)
• Erronea caurica insolita Bozzetti, 2017
• Erronea caurica mayottensis Vachon & Verneau, 2017 (synonym of Erronea caurica quinquefasciata (Röding, 1798))
• Erronea caurica nabeqensis Heiman & Mienis, 2000
• Erronea caurica quinquefasciata (Röding, 1798)
• Erronea caurica samoensis Lorenz, 2002
• Erronea caurica thachi F. Huber, 2020

Description

Erronea caurica, side view

These cowries reach 35–55 millimetres (1.4–2.2 in) of length. Their shape is elongated and the basic color is light brown or yellowish, with a pinkish underside and brown spots on the edge.

Distribution

The species and its subspecies are distributed in the Red Sea and in the Indian Ocean along Aldabra, Chagos, the Comores, East Africa, Kenya, Madagascar, the Mascarene Basin, Mauritius, Mozambique, Réunion, the Seychelles, Somalia and Tanzania.