Mauritia histrio, common name the harlequin cowry or the stage cowry, is a species of sea snail, a cowry, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Cypraeidae, the cowries.
Description These quite common large shell reach on average of length, with a maximum size of and a minimum adult size of . The basic color of the shell is pale brown, with many grey round spots on the dorsum surface and several dark brown marginal spots on the edges. The base is mainly white or pale brown, with a wide aperture and well-developed darker teeth, longer and stronger on the outer side. In the living mollusk the mantle is transparent, with short papillae. Mauritia histrio is quite similar to Cypraea arabica and Mauritia eglantina.
Distribution
This species is distributed in the Indian Ocean and Western Pacific Ocean, along Aldabra, Chagos, East Africa, Kenya, Madagascar, the Mascarene Basin, Mauritius, Mozambique, Réunion, the Seychelles, Tanzania, North West Australia and Philippines.
Habitat Mauritia histrio lives in tropical shallow water. It is nocturnal, hiding during the day under rocks, large blocks or in deep crevices in coral reefs.
Synonyms Cypraea histrio Gmelin, 1791 (basionym) Cypraea reticulata Martyn, 1784 Cypraea amethystea Linnaeus, 1758 Cypraea histrio Gmelin, 1791 Cypraea oculata Röding, 1798 Cypraea undosa Röding, 1798 Cypraea arlequina Mörch, 1852 Arabica westralis Iredale, 1935 Mauritia (Arabica) histrio var. duploreticulata Coen, 1949
Subspecies Mauritia histrio histrio Gmelin, 1791 Mauritia histrio westralis Iredale, 1935
References
Verdcourt, B. (1954). The cowries of the East African Coast (Kenya, Tanganyika, Zanzibar and Pemba). Journal of the East Africa Natural History Society 22(4) 96: 129-144, 17 pls. Felix Lorenz and Alex Hubert : A Guide to Worldwide Cowries, second revised edition - Conch Books, 2002 Burgess, C.M. (1970) - The Living Cowries - AS Barnes and Co, Ltd. Cranbury, New Jersey
External links
Biolib
Cowries Mauritia species Cowries Clade