Kingdom Animalia Class Gastropoda Family Cypraeidae Scientific name Palmadusta ziczac | Phylum Mollusca Superfamily Cypraeoidea Genus Palmadusta Rank Species | |
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Similar Palmadusta, Palmadusta asellus, Palmadusta clandestina, Staphylaea nucleus, Purpuradusta fimbriata | ||
Palmadusta ziczac is a species of sea snail, a cowry, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Cypraeidae, the cowries.
Contents
Subspecies and formae
Description
These quite common small shells reach on average 15–20 millimetres (0.59–0.79 in) of length, with a maximum size of 26 millimetres (1.0 in) and a minimum size of 8 millimetres (0.31 in). The basic color of these pyriform shells is light beige or light tan, crossed by three transversal white bands with a zigzag pattern. The base of the shell is yellow or orange-brown with some brown small spots, extended along both sides. The aperture is orange with several short teeth. In the living cowries the mantle is orange-red, with white papillae.
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 and in the western Pacific Ocean along Melanesia, Bali, Philippines, Australia and Polynesia, except Hawaii.
Habitat
These cowries live in intertidal waters up to 5–20 metres (16–66 ft) of depth, in sandy lagoons and on coral reef, usually hiding under coral and rocks.