''Cypraeovula volvens'' is a

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

sea snail Sea snails are slow-moving marine (ocean), marine gastropod Mollusca, molluscs, usually with visible external shells, such as whelk or abalone. They share the Taxonomic classification, taxonomic class Gastropoda with slugs, which are distinguishe ...

, a

cowry Cowrie or cowry () is the common name for a group of small to large sea snails in the family Cypraeidae. Cowrie shells have held cultural, economic, and ornamental significance in various cultures. The cowrie was the shell most widely used wo ...

, a marine

gastropod Gastropods (), commonly known as slugs and snails, belong to a large Taxonomy (biology), taxonomic class of invertebrates within the phylum Mollusca called Gastropoda (). This class comprises snails and slugs from saltwater, freshwater, and fro ...

mollusc Mollusca is a phylum of protostome, protostomic invertebrate animals, whose members are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 76,000 extant taxon, extant species of molluscs are recognized, making it the second-largest animal phylum ...

in the

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

Cypraeidae Cypraeidae, common name, commonly named the cowries ( cowry or cowrie), is a Taxonomy (biology), taxonomic family (biology), family of small to large sea snails. These are marine (ocean), marine gastropod mollusks in the superfamily Cypraeoidea, ...

, the cowries.

Description

Shell spheroid and umbilicate, light and fragile, small (20–23 mm). Dorsum variably colored, clear pink to dark violet, with rather small brown spots laterally, decreasing in size. Flanks weakly pointed and sometimes provided with small protuberances. Labial edge orange-pink, rather thickened, with the anterior labial extremity weakly evident and the posterior labial one more developed. Base mostly clear, with margins colored and patterned as the dorsum; aperture curved and narrow. Labial dentition developed and coarse. Columellar dentition thinner, weakly evident, disappearing in the more callous specimens. Peristome smooth or with fine ribbing. Fossula rather thickened, shallow, with 3-4 well developed denticles in fully grown specimens. Soft parts generally translucent; head, mantle and foot cream-grey and weakly spotted with black. Mantle provided with numerous thread-like and semitransparent papillae.

Distribution

The holotype and paratypes were dredged in June 2003 on rocky bottoms by Philip J. Jooste off the eastern coast of South Africa, NE of Port Alfred, at a depth of about 88–100 m.

References

volvens Gastropods described in 2004 {{Cypraeidae-stub