Pustularia cicercula explained

Pustularia cicercula is a species of sea snail, a cowry, a marine gastropod mollusc in the family Cypraeidae, the cowries.

Subspecies

The following subspecies are recognized :

• Pustularia cicercula cicercula (Linnaeus, 1758)
• Pustularia cicercula takahashii Moretzsohn, 2007
• Pustularia cicercula tricornis (Jousseaume, 1874)
• Pustularia cicercula tuamotensis Lorenz, 1999
• Pustularia cicercula avrilae Heiman, 2009: synonym of Pustularia cicercula tuamotensis Lorenz, 1999
• Pustularia cicercula lienardi (Jousseaume, 1874): synonym of Pustularia cicercula tricornis (Jousseaume, 1874)

Description

The length of the shell attains 20.3 mm, lateral diameter 13.6 mm, dorsoventral diameter 11.8 mm

The shell is highly inflated, its extremities produced and slightly upturned; the granulose dorsal surface bears a shallow central crease.^[1]

Distribution

This species and its subspecies occur in the Red Sea and in the Indian Ocean off Kenya, the Mascarene Basin, Mauritius, Réunion and Tanzania.

A single fossil of the type species was collected from the post-Tertiary limestones of the New Hebrides.

References

• Jousseaume, F., 1874. Description de quelques espèces nouvelles de coquilles appartenant aux genres Murex, Cypraea & Natica. Revue et Magasin de Zoologie Pure et Appliquée (3)2: 3-25
• Verdcourt, B. (1959). The cowries of the East African Coast: Supplement II. JEANHS XXIII (100): 130–134
• Heiman, E.L. & Mienis, H.K., 2008. - Cypraea tricornis Jousseaume, 1874: a study of the type material. Triton 18: 9-10
• Lorenz F. (2014). Monograph of the genus Pustularia (Gastropoda: Cypraeidae). Harxheim: ConchBooks. 130 pp
• Liu, J.Y. [Ruiyu] (ed.). (2008). Checklist of marine biota of China seas. China Science Press. 1267 pp.

External links

• Linnaeus, C. (1758). Systema Naturae per regna tria naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis. Editio decima, reformata (10th revised edition), vol. 1: 824 pp. Laurentius Salvius: Holmiae

Notes and References

1. https://pubs.er.usgs.gov/publication/pp533 Ladd, H.S. (1977). Cenozoic fossil mollusks from western Pacific islands; Gastropods (Eratoidae through Harpidae). U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper. 533: i–iv, 1–84, pls 1–23