''Purpuradusta microdon'' is species of tropical

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 Marine is an adjective meaning of or pertaining to the sea or ocean. Marine or marines may refer to: Ocean * Maritime (disambiguation) * Marine art * Marine biology * Marine debris * Marine habitats * Marine life * Marine pollution Military * ...

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. This species lives in the

Indo-Pacific The Indo-Pacific is a vast biogeographic region of Earth. In a narrow sense, sometimes known as the Indo-West Pacific or Indo-Pacific Asia, it comprises the tropical waters of the Indian Ocean, the western and central Pacific Ocean, and the ...

oceans.WoRMS : Purpuradusta microdon
accessed : 10 May 2012] The shell of this cowry closely resembles that of '' Purpuradusta minoridens.'' ;Subspecies: * ''Purpuradusta microdon microdon'' ( Gray, 1828) * ''Purpuradusta microdon chrysalis'' (

Kiener Louis Charles Kiener (31 July 1799 – 24 July 1881) was a French malacologist born in Paris. He was the author of the 12-volume ''Spécies général et iconographie des coquilles vivantes comprenant la collection du Muséum d'histoire naturelle ...

, 1843)

Distribution

This species is distributed in the Red Sea and in the Indian Ocean along Chagos, Kenya, the Mascarene Basin, Mauritius and Tanzania.

References

* Burgess, C.M. (1970). ''The Living Cowries''. AS Barnes and Co, Ltd. Cranbury, New Jersey

External links

On-line articles with ''Cypraea microdon'' in the HAWAIIAN SHELL NEWS (1960-1994)
{{Taxonbar, from=Q6785649 Cypraeidae Gastropods described in 1828 Taxa named by John Edward Gray