About this project
In an effort to match the visual quality of the previous website I created with Pasquale Fazzini in the first half of the 1990s (Cypraea.net), I chose to embrace a suggestion often made by fellow collectors: to offer a “synthetic” view of these shells. Thus, although the family Cypraeidae is among the most extensively studied and the dedicated literature is vast, this project aims to complement printed publications, which often emphasize descriptions of new taxa, by providing a synthetic overview of variability and identification aids.
At its core, Wikicowrie is a catalogue: a working tool designed to provide detailed guidance on the different cowry types, summarizing their distinguishing characteristics, nomenclature, and geographic distributions. Its scope goes beyond listing formally recognized taxa, aiming to summarize observed variability—chromatic, structural, ecological, and geographical—which may, over evolutionary time, contribute to differentiation among populations and potentially lead to speciation.
Biological, anatomical, physiological, ecological, or anthropological aspects are therefore not explored here; for these, I refer readers to the extensive specialized bibliography. No definitive truths are presented: the catalogue is intended as a support for organizing collections and as an additional perspective on the extraordinary diversity of cowries.
What you will find in Wikicowrie
For each species or subspecies, Wikicowrie brings together on a single page the available information, from the name - accompanied by author and year of publication - to the list of possible variants in hierarchical order. For each geotype, varieties are listed; for each variety, morphs; and for each morph, the nominal taxa attributed to them (for more details, see the Systematic menu).
Geographical distributions are provided and, for extinct species, chronological ranges as well, along with additional notes and measurements in millimeters, expressed according to the following criterion: minimum record, (mean), maximum record. In the case of approximate values, the measurement may be preceded by a “c” (circa).
Synonyms, types and references
Synonyms are listed in chronological order of publication at the bottom of the morphotype to which they referred at the time of description. For a correct interpretation of nominal taxa, the following scheme is adopted:
v Cypraea caput serpentis Linnaeus, 1758 Loc. Typ.: Mauritius. Ref.: SN 10 p. 720 Type: lectotype LSL- v
- : name status, available or unavailable (see the status list below).
- Cypraea caput serpentis Linnaeus, 1758
- : basionym, author, and year of publication.
- Loc. Typ. : Mauritius
- : type locality of the holotype or as indicated at the time of description; if this indication is considered incorrect according to current knowledge, it is reported in quotation marks.
- Ref.: SN 10 p. 720
- : original publication, with the option to consult the Bibliography section.
- Type: lectotype
- : refers to the type of the taxon. This may be a physical specimen (holotype, lectotype, neotype, syntype/s), an illustration, a bibliographic reference, or a clearly identifiable description. For some morphs, simple adjectival names implicitly serve as descriptions, indicating a qualifying characteristic (e.g., albinea, hypercallosa, maxima). In such cases, the "explicit name" itself describes the variant.
- LSL
- : location of the physical type in a museum institution or private collection, with the option to consult the Location section.
The following status abbreviations are used operationally for cataloging purposes. Their definitions are based on ICZN rules and historical practices:
Operational status abbreviations
Available names
- v: valid
- vp: valid and preserved for prevailing usage (Art. 33.3.1)
- vd: not clearly identifiable (nomen dubium)
Unavailable names
- xb: invalid under ICZN, not a binomial basionym
- xc: corrected in the same publication
- xd: not clearly identifiable (nomen dubium)
- xe: transcription error
- xf: described on fake specimens
- xh: homonym
- xi: invalid under Art. 45.6.3 ICZN – infrasubspecific names before 1960
- xk: nomen oblitum
- xn: nomen nudum
- xo: pre-Linnaean name (before 1758)
- xp: subsequent name, preserved for prevailing usage, respecting the original name (Art. 33.3.1)
- xs: suppressed by ICZN (non-binomial work or included in the Official Index of Rejected and Invalid Works)
- xt: invalid under Arts. 1.3.2 and 45.6.4 ICZN – names proposed for infrasubspecific aberrations or teratological specimens (according to the author’s opinion)
- xu: unpublished (e.g., manuscript, draft, notes, price list)
- xy: deliberately reported as a synonym
- xl: described on sales lists before 1960