Cypraeidae
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 Cypraea chinensis with mantle fully extended.
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Cypraeidae, common name the cowries (singular: cowry), is a taxonomic family of small to large sea snails. These are marine gastropod mollusks in the superfamily Cypraeoidea, the cowries and cowry allies.
For nearly 200 years, every species in the family Cypraeidae was placed in one genus, Cypraea, but recently the cowries have been divided into many different genera.
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[edit] Shell description
Cypraeidae have adult shells which are very rounded, almost like an egg; they do not look like a typical gastropod shell. In virtually all of the species in the family Cypraeidae, the shells are extremely smooth and shiny. This is because in the living animal, the shell is nearly always fully covered with the mantle.
Typically, no spire is visible in the fully adult shell, and there is a long, narrow, aperture which is lined with "teeth."
Juvenile cowry shells are not at all similar to adult cowry shells. The juvenile shells of cowries perhaps more closely resemble the shells of some "bubble snails" in the order Cephalaspidea. Also the shells of juvenile cowries seldom exhibit the same color patterns as the adult shells do, and thus can be hard to identify to species.
Cowries have no operculum.
[edit] Predators
The very narrow toothed aperture of the cowry shell makes the adult shells difficult for many predators to reach into. However cowries are still vulnerable to predation:
- Some tropical crustaceans can break the dorsum of a cowry shell.
- Some mollusc-eating cones like Conus textile can inject venom into the cowry's flesh. The cone then extends its stomach into the shell, through the slit, to completely ingest the flesh.
- Some octopuses can gouge a small hole (using a special barb/tooth and an acidic secretion) through the shell to inject a venom that kills the animal within.
[edit] Taxonomy
The family Cypraeidae belongs, together with the family Ovulidae, to the superfamily Cypraeoidea. This, in turn, is part of the clade Littorinimorpha, that belongs within the clade Hypsogastropoda.
The following subfamilies have been recognized in the taxonomy of Bouchet & Rocroi (2005) :
- Subfamily Bernayinae
- Tribe Bernayini Schilder, 1927
- Tribe Gisortiini ---> This tribe has been upgraded to subfamily Gisortiinae
- Subfamily Cypraeinae Rafinesque, 1815
- Tribe Cypraeini
- † Cypraeorbis
- Siphocypraea
- Cypraea Rafinesque, 1815
- Tribe Mauritiini Steadman & Cotton, 1946
- Tribe Cypraeini
- Subfamily Erosariinae Schilder, 1924 (the new taxonomy of Bouchet & Rocroi doesn't mention any tribes in this subfamily)
- Tribe Staphylaeini
- Tribe Erosariini
- Subfamily Erroneinae Schilder, 1924
- Tribe Erroneini Schilder, 1927
- Tribe Bistolidini C. Meyer, 2003
- Subfamily Gisortiinae Schilder, 1927 (former invalid synonym Archicypraeinae Schilder, 1930 )
- Subfamily Luriinae Schilder, 1932
- Tribe Luriini Schilder, 1932
- Tribe Austrocypraeini Iredale, 1935
- Subfamily Pustulariinae Gill, 1871
- Tribe Cypraeovulini Schilder, 1927
- Tribe Pseudozonariini
- Tribe Pustulariini Gill, 1871
- Tribe Zonariini Schilder, 1932
- Subfamily Umbiliinae Franc, 1968 has become a synonym of the tribe Umbiliini Schilder, 1932, that, in turn, has become a synonym of the subfamily Gisortiinae Schilder, 1927
[edit] References
[edit] External links
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