Palmadusta asellus is a species of sea snail, a cowry, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Cypraeidae, the cowries.
Description
Palmadusta asellus has a shell reaching a length of about . The shells are white with three large brown transversal bands on the upper surface. The brown mantle shows several whitish spots. In the living cowry it covers almost entirely the shells.
Subspecies
Palmadusta asellus is divided into the following subspecies:
Palmadusta asellus asellus (Linnaeus, 1758) Palmadusta asellus bitaeniata (Geret, 1903) Palmadusta asellus latefasciata Schilder, 1930 Palmadusta asellus vespacea (Melvill, 1905)
Distribution
This species is distributed in the seas along Aldabra, Chagos, the Comores, Kenya, Madagascar, Mauritius, Mozambique, the Red Sea, Réunion, the Seychelles and Tanzania.
References
Verdcourt, B. (1954). The cowries of the East African Coast (Kenya, Tanganyika, Zanzibar and Pemba). Journal of the East Africa Natural History Society 22(4) 96: 129–144, 17 pls Burgess, C.M. (1970). The Living Cowries. AS Barnes and Co, Ltd. Cranbury, New Jersey Sea Life Base