The Information pages
Dear friends The two volumes of "Cowries - A Guide to the Gastropod Family Cypraeidae" 2017/2018 (also known as "G3)," discuss and illustrate cowries from all possible angles. However, these books have not yet found their way to all corners of our community. In addition, several new questions, and articles worth discussing, have surfaced after the publication of G3. If you do not own these two volumes, do not necessarily buy any shells, but get those books first. You will find them useful, and soon realize that it takes weeks to work your way through them. You can order them directly from the publishers ConchBooks.   As I have found that the worldwide web is increasingly less-useful and boring when it comes to substantiated information on cowries, I have decided to re-open the "educational part" of my website, but only for my registered customers and friends. This section, as well as the online shop, had been discontinued some time in 2011, when I began to write G3.   When I purchase collections, the literature is an important add-on to preserve for posterity. On scrolling through the files and folders that collectors have accumulated, I often come across printed versions of my humble online contributions from the past two decades. In the future, I will upload PDF files instead of htmls, for download and print, as well as to hopefully, read, enjoy, and discuss. Also, most of my publications are now available for download (including the Zoila monograph). The checklist will be updated on a regular basis, and I plan to add to these information pages whatever seems of interest. You are welcome to send suggestions. The next larger project will be a gallery of juvenile cowries. The "vintage-section" has the old stuff from my website, starting 1998 to 2011. Most of it is out-of-date. In some cases, I have updated some information, but the majority of contributions is obsolete and retained only for fun. As before, I am still interested in purchasing entire collections. Happy scrolling. Life is good.

Checklist of Living Cypraeidae

Bibliography (with download links)

Errors in "Cowries - A guide to the Gastropod Family Cypraeidae" Vol. 1 & 2

Appendix 1  An update to Volume 1 of "Cowries - A Guide to the Gastropod Family Cypraeidae" (2017), featuring two new species!

CYPRAEIDAE

Naria labrolineata The name shall be changed to N. flaveola, here is why.	Perisserosa guttata var. australis A short protrait of a very rare form.
Mosaic rufinism in cowries A fascinating color aberration.	Concholysis in cowries A srange phenomenon of self-destruction.
Freak variations The semipicta and crassilabrum freaks.
The contrastriata form of Macrocypraea Primary banding in adult M. cervinetta.
Erronea garyi An interesting variation of E. pyriformis smithi.

Vintage Section (more or less out-of-date)
Cribrarula An overview to the smaller Pacific species.	Cribrarula cribraria comma and e. francescoi.
Cribrarula pellisserpentis The text of the original description.	Cribarula garciai The text of the original description.
Cribrarula cribraria ganteri The text of the original description.	Cribrarula gravida A short portrait.
Ficadusta pulchella aliguayensis A short portrait.	Pustularia chiapponii A short portrait.
Ovatipsa chinensis ssp., and the mysterious coloba from Natal.	Zoila jeaniana thalamega A short portrait.
Palmadusta androyensis and consanguinea from Madagascar The original description.	Zoila friendii marina A short portrait.
Purpuradusta oryzaeformis The text of the original description.	Zoila eludens f. decepticolor A "new form" and some fun thoughts on taxonomy.
Luria cinerea brasilensis An interesting subspecies	Monetaria caputdraconis poppei A personal note on this subspecies.
Monetaria annulus f. dilatissima An interesting population from Aden.	Monetaria annulus appendiculata The Bunnies and the Hookers.
Cypraeovula The mysterious species of the "Crossia" complex.	Cypraeovula iutsuina, perdentata and other deep water species.
Cypraeovula algoensis & edentula The proper use of their names.	Erosaria cernica and its subspecies.
Erosaria kingae A short note on its status as variation of bernardi.	Erosaria ocellata - a variable jewel.
Leporicypraea mappa An obsolete revision.	Lyncina "kurohawaii"  A possible hybrid form.
Lyncina porteri and joycae A comparison of close allies.	Mauritia histrio f. maculabasis  An interesting form.
Muracypraea mus A short look at its forms.	Paradusta hungerfordi Its geographic subspecies and forms.
Nesiocypraea lisetae How to tell from the infamous look-alikes.	Palmulacypraea Three little species and a lot of confusion.
Ransoniella martini A widespread species.	Ransoniella punctata A critical look at taxonomy gone wild.
Notocypraea Once more revisited.	Notocypraea A preliminary revision.
Notocypraea hartsmithi ... is dissecta.	Palmadusta diluculum And its forms- a classic.
Perisserosa guttata Ats subspecies and varieties.	Nesiocypraea teramachii And its subspecies
Pustularia A closer look at its species.	Pustularia bistrinotata var. jandeprezi Two nice specimen.
Umbilia A portrait of its living species.	Umbilia hesitata f. portlandensis A western subspecies? (= suprastrata).
Bistolida menkeana The type material and its implications.	Fantastic Cowries from Micronesia A look at the smaller species (mostly from Kwajalein).
Callistocypraea nivosa From Western Australia?	Cowries of Sri Lanka A harvest from a trip in 1999 (before the tsunami ruined the place)
Subfossil cowries A general portrait of these beautiful items.	Fossil Cowries from Australia Photos of more or less nice Victorian fossils.
Pleistocene Cowries from Egypt A short essay based on a paper in SZM (1992).	Fossil Cowries from the Philippines
Snowflake-dots in Zoila A defect or a feature adding to the character of the shell?	About the protoconch Some pictures and some blurb.
Molecular analyses A short report on the work of Prof. C. P. Meyer.	The provinces and classic localities of Cypraeidae A useless tool for dealers and collectors.
Cowry pictures Some photos of shells.	Living cowries Some photos of rare animals.

Other malacological subjects

Parasitic mollusca A short introduction, mostly cowry-related	Tropidophora cuveriana Photographed alive
Many thanks for sharing photos, opinions and information to: Dr. Marco Chiapponi, Dr. Michael A. Mont, Prof. Dr. Christopher P. Meyer, Scott Johnson, J. P. Barbier Special thanks to Dr. Vollrath Wiese, Klaus Groh, Dr. Carsten Renker, Dr. Marco Passamonti, Guido Poppe, and Jana Kratzsch.

Disclaimer: The purpose of this site is to support the study of Cypraeidae. The evaluations for the status of taxa as well as the choice of forma-names in the checklists and the various articles were made partly on the basis of carefully conducted conchological studies whereas others are the result of my personal mood at some point and time. No responsibility for the correctness of any components of this site is taken. When reading any of the statements, decisions and choices reflected here, remember that nothing on this website represents a valid publication comparable to printed text in a magazine. All of what I am offering here is merely for entertainment and viewing pleasure. Dr. Felix Lorenz - Worldwide Seashells, Inc. © 1999-2022

No pictures, texts or lists from this site may be used for publication in any media or on another site without permission.