Staphylaea staphylaea

Staphylaea staphylaea (common name: the stippled cowry) is a species of sea snail, a cowry, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Cypraeidae, the cowries.^[1]

Staphylaea staphylaea
Staphylaea staphylaea shell
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Mollusca
Class:	Gastropoda
Subclass:	Caenogastropoda
Order:	Littorinimorpha
Family:	Cypraeidae
Genus:	Staphylaea
Species:	S. staphylaea
Binomial name
Staphylaea staphylaea (Linnaeus, 1758)
Synonyms[1][2]
Cypraea staphylaea Linnaeus, 1758 (basionym) Cypraea atrata Gray, J.E., 1825 Cypraea deprava Dautzenberg, Ph., 1903 Pustularia depravata Dautzenberg, Ph., 1903 Cypraea albicilla Sulliotti, G.R., 1924 Cypraea expallescens Dautzenberg, Ph. & J.L. Bouge, 1933 Staphylaea fortis Coen, G.S., 1949 Staphylaea grisea Coen, G.S., 1949 Staphylaea lactea Coen, G.S., 1949 Staphylaea nitida Coen, G.S., 1949

There is one subspecies : Staphylaea staphylaea laevigata Dautz., 1932.^[3]

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  Staphylaea staphylaea laevigata

Description

Shells of Staphylaea staphylaea from Reunion Island at the Museo Civico di Storia Naturale di Milano. Dorsal and ventral view

The shell of Staphylaea staphylaea reaches a size of 7 – 29 mm. It is oval, the dorsum surface is pale greyish with a thin longitudinal line in the middle, many small round protuberances and two brown areas at the extremities. The base is pale brown. The small teeth are extended to both sides of the entire base. In the living cowries the transparent mantle has an orange coloration, with long finger-like projections.

Distribution

Distribution map of Staphylaea staphylaea

This species is distributed in the Red Sea and in the Indian Ocean along Aldabra, Chagos, the Comores, the East Coast of South Africa, Kenya, Madagascar, the Mascarene Basin, Mauritius, Mozambique, Réunion, the Seychelles, Somalia, South Mozambique, Tanzania and in Polynesia, Australia and Vanuatu.^[4]