Erronea errones, the wandering cowry or erroneous cowry, is a species of sea snail, a cowry, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Cypraeidae, the cowries.
Description These very common shells reach on average of length, with a maximum size of and a minimum size of . The dorsum is usually pale brown or greenish, with very variable patterns of darker greenish trasversal bands or spots. The base and the teeth of the aperture are white. In the living cowries the papillose greenish mantle grants the camouflage.
Distribution This species is distributed in the East Indian Ocean along South India, Andaman Islands, Madagascar and Tanzania, as well in West Pacific Ocean along Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, New Caledonia, Samoa and Australia.
Habitat These cowries live in shallow tropical waters at low tide, usually under rocks or stones, feeding on algae.
Synonyms Cypraea errones, Linnaeus, 1758 Cypraea oblonga, Gmelin, J.F., 1791 Cypraea bimaculata, (Gray 1824) Cypraea coxi, (Brazier 1872) Cypraea pusilla, Gmelin, J.F., 1791 Cypraea coerulescens, Schroter, J.S., 1804 : E Australia Cypraea ovum, Kiener, L.C., 1843 Cypraea chrysophaea, Melvill, J.C., 1888 Cypraea compressa, Dautzenberg, Ph., 1903 Erronea nimiproba, Iredale, T., 1935 Cypraea nimiserrans, Iredale, T., 1935 Cypraea magerrones, Iredale, T., 1939 : E Australia Cypraea proba, Iredale, T., 1939 : W Australia Erronea kalavo, Steadman, W.R. & B.C. Cotton, 1943 Erronea vivili, Steadman, W.R. & B.C. Cotton, 1943 Palmadusta asellus fusca (f), Coen, G.S., 1949 Erronea fusca, Coen, G.S., 1949
References
Verdcourt, B. (1959). The cowries of the East African Coast: Supplement II. JEANHS XXIII (100): 130-134 Natarajan, A V (1954) - On the breeding habits of the Cowry Erronea errones (Linne) - Current Science, 23 (7). pp. 225–226
External links Biolib
Flmnh Poppe-images Erronea errones