Cypraea

Cypraea is a genus of medium-sized to large sea snails or cowries, marine gastropod mollusks in the family Cypraeidae, the cowries.

Cypraea

H. Zell · CC BY-SA 3.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Also called
cowryPBDB
Sits inside
CypraeinaePBDB
Diet
omnivore, grazerPBDB, for Cypraeidae
Life habit
epifaunalPBDB, for Cypraeidae
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Cypraeidae
Vision
limitedPBDB, for Gastropoda

Time the record covers

At least 65 million years on record.

The record covers at least 66 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 72.2 Mya to 0 Mya.

Late Cretaceous — about 2 of 198 occurrencesLate CretaceousPaleocene — about 14 of 198 occurrencesPaleoceneEocene — about 61 of 198 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 6 of 198 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 76 of 198 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 10 of 198 occurrencesPleistocene — about 28 of 198 occurrences74–71 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences71–69 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences69–66 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences66–64 Mya — about 3 occurrences64–61 Mya — about 3 occurrences61–59 Mya — about 4 occurrences59–56 Mya — about 3 occurrences56–54 Mya — about 2 occurrences54–52 Mya — about 2 occurrences52–49 Mya — about 2 occurrences49–47 Mya — about 3 occurrences47–44 Mya — about 3 occurrences44–42 Mya — about 3 occurrences42–39 Mya — about 19 occurrences39–37 Mya — about 20 occurrences37–34 Mya — about 7 occurrences34–32 Mya — about 2 occurrences32–29 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences29–27 Mya — about 1 occurrence27–25 Mya — about 2 occurrences25–22 Mya — about 4 occurrences22–20 Mya — about 9 occurrences20–17 Mya — about 9 occurrences17–15 Mya — about 12 occurrences15–12 Mya — about 16 occurrences12–9.8 Mya — about 5 occurrences9.8–7.4 Mya — about 3 occurrences7.4–4.9 Mya — about 21 occurrences4.9–2.5 Mya — about 9 occurrences2.5–0 Mya — about 28 occurrences66 Mya11.7 ka74 Mya0 Mya

198 occurrences of Cypraea on record, most of them in the Miocene. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

198 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

77 formations

Castle Hayne — 34.64°N, 77.65°WCastle Hayne — 34.37°N, 77.86°WCastle Hayne — 34.23°N, 77.94°WCastle Hayne — 34.66°N, 77.70°WPirabas — 0.80°S, 47.13°WPirabas — 1.00°S, 48.00°WPirabas — 0.70°S, 47.51°WPirabas — 1.23°S, 47.40°WPirabas — 1.05°S, 47.16°WPirabas — 0.60°S, 47.31°WPirabas — 1.66°S, 45.37°WCook Mountain — 31.20°N, 95.73°WCook Mountain — 30.63°N, 96.55°WCook Mountain — 30.63°N, 96.54°WCook Mountain — 30.07°N, 97.08°WPoivre — 20.67°S, 115.42°EPoivre — 20.75°S, 115.33°EPoivre — 20.83°S, 115.42°ESantee Limestone — 33.33°N, 80.15°WSantee Limestone — 33.38°N, 80.15°WSantee Limestone — 33.33°N, 79.69°WSantee Limestone — 33.20°N, 80.01°WDubar — 11.24°N, 48.98°EDubar — 11.47°N, 49.87°EWeches — 30.68°N, 96.58°WWeches — 31.21°N, 96.02°WWeches — 30.01°N, 97.16°WCaloosahatchee — 26.89°N, 82.01°WCaloosahatchee — 27.77°N, 82.68°WKincaid — 30.11°N, 97.32°WKincaid — 29.89°N, 97.67°WKincaid — 31.29°N, 96.72°WNanjemoy — 38.51°N, 77.02°WMoneague — 18.37°N, 77.38°WMoneague — 18.34°N, 77.12°WMoneague — 18.08°N, 77.00°WTupelo Bay — 33.25°N, 80.45°WTupelo Bay — 33.47°N, 80.49°WCzarnorzeki Beds — 49.77°N, 21.97°ECzarnorzeki Beds — 49.77°N, 21.93°EPorters Creek — 31.97°N, 87.20°WPorters Creek — 32.13°N, 87.40°WRyukyu Limestone — 24.50°N, 124.26°ERyukyu Limestone — 24.38°N, 124.22°EGatuncillo — 9.18°N, 79.55°WGatuncillo — 9.18°N, 79.52°WTagpochau — 15.18°N, 145.76°ETalparo — 10.67°N, 61.07°WGurabo — 19.30°N, 71.67°WGurabo — 19.51°N, 71.19°WSomerset — 18.32°N, 77.18°WSomerset — 18.17°N, 76.97°WGrotto Beach — 24.03°N, 74.52°WIronshore — 19.33°N, 81.25°WTroy Limestone — 18.19°N, 76.47°WTroy Limestone — 18.32°N, 77.13°WPrairie Bluff — 32.57°N, 88.19°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Cypraea has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 53 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 54 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Cypraea and its relatives

Miocene

Where Cypraea and its relatives were recorded in the Miocene.

Found in the same rock

2,441 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 120 sites for Cypraea, and this reads all of them. Of that, one read hit the database's own return limit, so every count below is a floor rather than a total. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

95 references

Each of the 198 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 83 further references are not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content3

Picture of Cypraea

Credit
H. Zell
Licence
CC BY-SA 3.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

Photogrammetry

Licence
In Copyright
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Cypraea cervus · UF:Invertebrate Zoology:410471-Mollusca

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC Attribution
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itCypraeinae through timeFormations of the MioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Linnaeus 1758