Global InformationCypraea pantherina information
| Cypraea pantherina | |
|---|---|
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| Dorsal view of a shell of Cypraea pantherina, anterior end towards the bottom | |
Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Mollusca |
| Class: | Gastropoda |
| Subclass: | Caenogastropoda |
| Order: | Littorinimorpha |
| Family: | Cypraeidae |
| Genus: | Cypraea |
| Species: | C. pantherina
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| Binomial name | |
| Cypraea pantherina Lightfoot, 1786
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Cypraea pantherina, common name the panther cowry, is a species of large tropical sea snail, a cowry, a marine gastropod mollusc in the family Cypraeidae, the cowries. The panther cowry is one of only two species currently included in the genus Cypraea (the second species is Cypraea tigris, Linnaeus, 1758), as all other species previously belonging to the genus Cypraea have been reassigned to other genera within the family Cypraeidae.
Shells of Cypraea pantherina have been found in tombs in the Rhine valley dated to 6 BCE. [1] Furthermore, shells of this species and the related Cypraea tigris have been unearthed at Pompeii, the ancient Roman city near Naples, Italy, where these shells may have been used as an ornament.
- ^ Plouin, S.. ((2004)). Relation précoce avec le Picenum: une cyprée (Cypraea pantherina) de l’Océan indien dans une tombe aristocratique hallstattienne d’Alsace (Nordhouse, Bas-Rhin, France). Preistoria Alpina. ,v. 40 (Suppl. 1), pp. 101-106. ISSN 0393-0157