Melicerona felina

Melicerona felina, common name the kitten cowrie, is a species of sea snail, a cowry, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Cypraeidae, the cowries.[1]

Melicerona felina
Shell of Melicerona felina from Saudi Arabia at the Museo Civico di Storia Naturale di Milano
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Mollusca
Class:
Gastropoda
(unranked):
clade Caenogastropoda
clade Hypsogastropoda
clade Littorinimorpha
Superfamily:
Cypraeoidea
Family:
Cypraeidae
Genus:
Melicerona
Species:
M. felina
Binomial name
Melicerona felina
(Gmelin, 1791)
Synonyms[1]
  • Cypraea felina Gmelin, 1791
  • Cypraea felina felina Gmelin, 1791
  • Palmadusta felina (Gmelin, 1791)
  • Palmadusta felina felina (Gmelin, 1791)

Description

Melicerona felina has a shell reaching a size of 10–30 mm. Dorsum has a somewhat banded and spotted pattern with a yellow-brown coloration. It lives under coral slabs on leeward intertidal reefs, at a depth of 2–4 m.

Distribution

This species is distributed in the Red Sea and in the Indian Ocean along Aldabra, Chagos, the Comores, the East Coast of South Africa, Kenya, Madagascar, the Mascarene Basin, Mauritius, Mozambique, Réunion, the Seychelles, Somalia and Tanzania.

References
  1. Melicerona felina (Gmelin, 1791). Retrieved through: World Register of Marine Species.
  • 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
  • Branch, G.M. et al. (2002). Two Oceans. 5th impression. David Philip, Cape Town & Johannesburg
  • "Melicerona felina felina". Gastropods.com. Retrieved 16 January 2019.
  • Encyclopedia of Life
  • Cypraea.eu
  • Xenophora
  • Caledonian shells
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