Calpurnus verrucosus

Calpurnus verrucosus, the Umbilical Egg Shell or Warty/Little Egg Cowry, is a species of sea snail, a cowry, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Ovulidae, the cowries.

Calpurnus verrucosus
Living Calpurnus verrucosus on soft coral Sacrophyton sp., Philippines
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Mollusca
Class:
Gastropoda
(unranked):
clade Caenogastropoda
clade Hypsogastropoda
clade Littorinimorpha
Superfamily:
Cypraeoidea
Family:
Ovulidae
Genus:
Calpurnus
Species:
C. verrucosus
Binomial name
Calpurnus verrucosus
Synonyms

Distribution

This species is mainly distributed in the tropical South East Africa and in the Western Pacific Ocean, in the waters along Madagascar, Mascarene Islands, Red Sea, Indonesia, Thailand and Philippines.

Description
Shell of Calpurnus verrucosus

The shells of this species reach 10–40 millimetres (0.39–1.57 in) of length. This cowry is pure white, smooth and ovate, the base is flat and wide. The anterior and posterior extremities have a slight purple coloration, with a yellow circle at the edge of a depressed pustule (hence the Latin name of this species, verrucosus ). The mantle of the living cowries is white and completely covered by small brown spots. Also the foot is white with dark dots and can be extended widely around the base of the shell.

Habitat

Living cowries can mainly be encountered in daylight under soft corals, sponges and rocks in shallow to deep waters at a depth of 20–50 m. They primarily feed on the polyps of Leather Corals (Sacrophyton and Lobophytum species, Alcyoniidae). At night they spread their mantles on the top of the soft coral and start grazing on the polyps.

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References
    • Lorenz F. & Fehse D. (2009). The Living Ovulidae - A manual of the families of Allied Cowries: Ovulidae, Pediculariidae and Eocypraeidae. Conchbooks, Hackenheim, Germany
    • Cate, C. N. 1973 - A systematic revision of the recent Cypraeid family Ovulidae - Veliger 15: 1-117
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