| Cypraeoidea | |
|---|---|
 | |
| A live cowryCypraea chinensis, with itsmantle fully extended, head end to the left | |
Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Mollusca |
| Class: | Gastropoda |
| Subclass: | Caenogastropoda |
| Order: | Littorinimorpha |
| Superfamily: | Cypraeoidea Rafinesque, 1815 |
| Families | |
See text | |
| Synonyms[1] | |
Velutinoidea | |
Cypraeoidea, the cowries and cowry allies, is asuperfamily ofsea snails,marinegastropods included in thecladeLittorinimorpha. This superfamily had been calledCypraeacea and was named by Rafinesque in 1815.[1]
This superfamily of sea snails have adult shells which do not look like typicalgastropod shells because thespire of the shell is not visible in adults, instead the shells are: often quite rounded in shape, varying from globular to elongate, and with a long, very narrow,aperture which is sometimes toothed. The snails in these families have nooperculum.
The shells of almost every species in this superfamily are very smooth and shiny, and this is because in the living animal, the shell is nearly always fully covered with themantle.
The largest known fossil cowry wasGisortia gigantieaMunster, 1828 which reached a length of 350mm. The largest modern cowry is the Atlantic Deer Cowry (Macrocypraea cervus) at up to 190mm. The largest known cowry from any extant subfamily or genus was the Australian cowryZoila (Gigantocypraea) gigas(McCoy, 1867) at about 247mm.[2]
This superfamily used to be known as Cypraeacea. Prior to the recent ruling by theICZN, many invertebrate superfamily names ended in the suffix -acea, or -aceae, not -oidea as now required according to ICZN article 29.2. The suffix -oidea used to be used for some subclasses and superorders, where it is still found. In much of the older literature including Keen 1958, gastropod superfamilies are written with the suffix -acea.[3][4][5]
The following twosubfamilies were recognized in thetaxonomy of Bouchet & Rocroi (2005):
Fehse (2007)[6] elevated the subfamily Pediculariinae to the family Pediculariidae, and the tribe Eocypraeini to the family Eocypraeidae. Both of these groups were removed from the Ovulidae and raised to family level, based on research on their morphological and molecular phylogenic qualities.[6] Families within Cypraeoidea are as follows:
