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Zoila decipiens

Species of gastropod

Summary

Species of gastropod

Cypraea decipiens E. A. Smith, 1880

Zoila decipiens, common names the "humpback cowry" or "deceptive cowry", is a species of sea snail, a cowry, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Cypraeidae, the cowries. This shell got its Latin name decipiens, meaning deceiving, from the fact that its damaged holotype was wrongly classified as Zoila thersites.

Description

mm}} of length. The shell is rather heavy, its shape is globular, almost inflated. Dorsum is distinctly arched. Its color is pale brown and more or less densely covered with brown irregular dark brown spots, while the dorsal line is lighter and usually clearly visible. Dorsal surface is separated from the edges by a dark brown frame. The base is dark brown and almost flat, with angled edges. The mouth is narrow, the short teeth are darker than the base and are present on both lips.

Distribution

This endemic species occurs in the sea along North West Australia. The shells have been most frequently found by divers from an area SW of Broome, (Australia).

Habitat

These large colourful cowries live in cold deep water, feeding on sponges in crevices and rocks at a maximum depth of 60 -, but they are more usually found at a depth of 15 -.

Subspecies

Zoila decipiens decipiens Smith, 1880
Zoila decipiens suprasinum Lorenz, 2002

References

Lorenz F. & Hubert A. (2000) A guide to worldwide cowries. Edition 2. Hackenheim: Conchbooks. 584 pp

Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

cypraeidae gastropods-described-in-1880

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