Talparia talpa

Talparia talpa, common name the mole cowry or chocolate banded cowry, is a species of sea snail, a cowry, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Cypraeidae, the cowries.

Subspecies

 * Talparia talpa lutani Bridges, 2015
 * Talparia talpa talpa (Linnaeus, 1758)
 * Synonyms:
 * Talparia talpa imperialis Schilder, F.A. & M. Schilder, 1938: synonym of Talparia talpa (Linnaeus, 1758)
 * Talparia talpa var. lewallorum Lorenz, 2015 : synonym of Talparia talpa (Linnaeus, 1758) (unavailable name: infrasubspecific rank)
 * Talparia talpa saturata (Dautzenberg, Ph., 1903): synonym of Talparia talpa (Linnaeus, 1758)

Description
The shells of these quite uncommon cowries reach on average 50 - 70 mm of length, with a minimum size of 23 mm and a maximum size of 105 mm. They are very variable in pattern and colour. The dorsum surface is smooth and shiny, the basic color is brown or yellowish brown, with three or four yellow or light brown transversal bands. The margins, the base and the teeth are completely dark brown or black. Also the teeth are dark brown, but the teeth spacing is clearer or white. In the living cowries the mantle is greyish or black, with long cylindrical papillae. Mantle and foot are well developed, with external antennae. The lateral flaps of the mantle may hide completely the shell surface and may be quickly retracted into the shell.

Distribution
This species occurs in the Red Sea and in the Indian Ocean along East Africa  (Aldabra, Chagos, the Comores, Eritrea, Kenya, Madagascar, the Mascarene Basin, Mauritius, Mozambique, Réunion, the Seychelles, Somalia and Tanzania), in the western Pacific (western Australia, Philippines), in Polynesia and Hawaii.

Fossils of this species have been found in Pliocene or Pleistocene strata on Guam.

Habitat
These cowries live on coral reef or in shallow lagoons in tropical intertidal and subtidal waters up to 30 m depth. They can be found under ledges and in small coral caves at night, as they start feeding at dusk.