''Chicoreus virgineus'', common name the virgin murex, is a species of

sea snail Sea snail is a common name for slow-moving marine gastropod molluscs, usually with visible external shells, such as whelk or abalone. They share the taxonomic class Gastropoda with slugs, which are distinguished from snails primarily by the ...

, a marine

gastropod The gastropods (), commonly known as snails and slugs, belong to a large taxonomic class of invertebrates within the phylum Mollusca called Gastropoda (). This class comprises snails and slugs from saltwater, from freshwater, and from land. T ...

mollusk in the family Muricidae, the murex snails or rock snails.

Description

The size of an adult shell varies between 60 mm and 160 mm.

Distribution

This species occurs from the Red Sea to the Bay of Bengal.

Subspecies

Chicoreus Virgineus Ponderosus (var) Sowerby 1879

References

* Lamarck, J. B. P. A., 1822 Histoire naturelle des animaux sans vertèbres, vol. 7, p. 711 pp * Fischer, P., 1870. La faune conchyliologique marine des baies de Suez et de l'Akabah. Journal de Conchyliologie 18: 162-179 * Poirier, J., 1883. Révision des Murex. Nouvelles Archives du Muséum d'Histoire naturelle 5: 13-128, sér. série 2 * Houart, R., 1992. The genus Chicoreus and related genera (Gastropoda: Muricidae) in the Indo-West Pacific. Mémoires du Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle 154(A): 1-188

External links

*
Fischer von W. G. (1807). Museum Demidoff, ou, Catalogue systématique et raisonné des curiosités de la nature et de l'art: données à l'Université Impériale de Moscou par son excellence Monsieur Paul de Demidoff. Moscow: Imprimerie de Université Impériale de Moscou. 3: 300pp. 6pls.

MNHN, Paris: lectotype
Chicoreus Gastropods described in 1798 {{Muricinae-stub