Kingdom Animalia Class Gastropoda Family Cypraeidae Scientific name Erosaria miliaris | Phylum Mollusca Superfamily Cypraeoidea Genus Erosaria Rank Species | |
 | ||
Similar Erosaria erosa, Erronea onyx, Lyncina carneola, Erosaria, Contradusta walkeri | ||
Erosaria miliaris, common name the millet cowry or the inocellate cowry or the military cowry, is a species of sea snail, a cowry, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Cypraeidae, the cowries.
Contents
Description
The shells of these very common cowries reach on average 32–38 millimetres (1.3–1.5 in) of length, with a minimum size of 17 millimetres (0.67 in) and a maximum size of 56 millimetres (2.2 in). The dorsum surface of these smooth and shiny shells is generally pale brown or yellowish, with several small white spots. The base is white or pink, with several fine teeth. In the living cowries the mantle is pale brown and greyish, with long tree-shaped sensorial papillae. This species is quite similar to Erosaria lamarckii, but in Erosaria miliaris the edges of the shell are white, without any spots.
Distribution
This species is distributed in the Indian Ocean along Madagascar and Tanzania and in the western Pacific Ocean to Australia, along Japan, East China, Taiwan, Vietnam, East Thailand, East Malaysia, Flores, North Borneo, Java, Philippines and northwestern Australia.