''Pseudozonaria arabicula'', common name : the little Arabian cowry, is a
species of
sea snail
Sea snail is a common name for slow-moving marine gastropod molluscs, usually with visible external shells, such as whelk or abalone. They share the taxonomic class Gastropoda with slugs, which are distinguished from snails primarily by the ...
, a
cowry, a marine
gastropod
The gastropods (), commonly known as snails and slugs, belong to a large taxonomic class of invertebrates within the phylum Mollusca called Gastropoda ().
This class comprises snails and slugs from saltwater, from freshwater, and from land. T ...
mollusk in the
family Cypraeidae, the cowries.
Description
The shell size varies between 13 mm and 37 mm. The dorsum surface is usually dark brown or greyish, while the base is whitish or pale brown, with large dark brown or blackish spots on the ventral margin.
Distribution
This species occurs in the Pacific Ocean along the
Galapagos Islands and from
Baja California to
Peru.
A record of this species from
Kenya[Copley, H. (1945). List of cowries collected on the Kenyan coast by Colonel Maxwell and friends during July 1944. JEANHS XVII (83&84): 160.] likely stems from a confusion with ''
Mauritia arabica'' (syn. ''Cypraea arabica'').
References
External links
Flmnh
Cypraeidae
Gastropods described in 1811
{{Cypraeidae-stub