Monetaria

Monetaria
The underside of a live Monetaria moneta with the mantle partially retracted
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Mollusca
Class:	Gastropoda
(unranked):	clade Caenogastropoda clade Hypsogastropoda clade Littorinimorpha
Superfamily:	Cypraeoidea
Family:	Cypraeidae
Subfamily:	Erosariinae
Genus:	Monetaria Troschel, 1863[1]
Type species
Cypraea moneta Linnaeus, 1758
Synonyms[1]
Ravitrona Iredale, 1930

Monetaria is a genus of sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks in the family Cypraeidae, the cowries.^[1]

Taxonomy

The generic placement is based on the molecular work of Meyer (2003). Some authors have previously placed species in the genus Erosaria (e.g. caputserpentis, by Lorenz and Hubert, 2000) ^[1]

Species

Species within the genus Monetaria include:

• Monetaria annulus (Linnaeus, 1758)^[2]
• Monetaria caputdraconis (Melvill, 1888)
• Monetaria caputserpentis (Linnaeus, 1758)
• Monetaria moneta (Linnaeus, 1758)^[3]
• Monetaria obvelata (Lamarck, 1810)

Species brought into synonymy 

• Monetaria icterina (Lamarck):^[4] synonym of Monetaria moneta (Linnaeus, 1758)

• 
  Monetaria annulus
• 
  Monetaria caputserpentis
• 
  Monetaria moneta

References

1. Monetaria . WoRMS (2009). Monetaria. Accessed through the World Register of Marine Species at http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=205350 on21 May 2011.
2. Monetaria annulus (Linnaeus).  Retrieved through: World Register of Marine Species on 5 June 2010.
3. Monetaria moneta (Linnaeus).  Retrieved through: World Register of Marine Species on 5 June 2010.
4. Monetaria icterina (Lamarck).  Retrieved through: World Register of Marine Species on 5 June 2010.

• Meyer C. 2003. Molecular systematics of cowries (Gastropoda: Cypraeidae) and diversification patterns in the tropics. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 79: 401-459. page(s): 411

External links