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Palmadusta asellus

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Palmadusta asellus
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Gastropoda
Subclass: Caenogastropoda
Order: Littorinimorpha
Family: Cypraeidae
Genus: Palmadusta
Species:
P. asellus
Binomial name
Palmadusta asellus
Subspecies

See text

Synonyms[1]

Palmadusta asellus is a species of sea snail, a cowry, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Cypraeidae, the cowries.[1]

Description

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Palmadusta asellus has a shell reaching a length of about 2.8 centimetres (1.1 in). The shells are white with three large brown transversal bands on the upper surface. The brown mantle shows several whitish spots. In the living cowry it covers almost entirely the shells.

Subspecies

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Palmadusta asellus is divided into the following subspecies:

  • Palmadusta asellus asellus (Linnaeus, 1758)
  • Palmadusta asellus bitaeniata (Geret, 1903)
  • Palmadusta asellus latefasciata Schilder, 1930
  • Palmadusta asellus vespacea (Melvill, 1905)

Distribution

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This species is distributed in the seas along Aldabra, Chagos, the Comores, Kenya, Madagascar, Mauritius, Mozambique, the Red Sea, Réunion, the Seychelles and Tanzania.

References

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  • 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
  • Burgess, C.M. (1970). The Living Cowries. AS Barnes and Co, Ltd. Cranbury, New Jersey
  • Sea Life Base
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