Hi 'L'ers,
 
I just got back from collecting in shallow water on the
south side of Aunu'u island, American Samoa, and
found a few more cowries that have me puzzled.  In
an area 50 meters square, we collected 2 cypraea
depressas, 1 maculifera, 3 dark arabicas, and 3 cowries
that for the life of me look like they are arabica crossed
with either depressa or maculifera, but probably with
depressa.  Is any such hybridization recorded between
these two species?  The arabicas are about as normal
as any you'd find in Samoa, as are the depressas.  The
unusual cowries are about the size of the depressas
from the same area, which is about half the size of the
arabicas.  They are very depressed, though not quite so
much as the depressas, with big spots on the calluses
like depressa, a dorsal pattern somewhere between
arabica and depressa, and a side profile that is fairly
typical arabica.  In fact, they look something like the
photo of the living depressa in Burgess' Cowries of the
World, which I have always figured was probably a
photo of a small arabica (note the lines on the dorsum).
 
Another shell that I found last year is just as problematic,
but I don't have multiple examples of this one to compare.
It is a heavy shell, somewhat callused with a tall hump,
not what I'd call depressed at all.  But, it has something
of a blotch on the columella, so by the charts it would
automatically be called maculifera.  It looks nothing like
the maculifera from Hawaii, and not much like the ones
from Samoa.  The dorsum is covered with netted rings
(no lines) on a pale, banded background, and looks closer
to histrio or grayana than any other cypraea in my collection.
It is a heavier shell than any of the histrios or grayanas
that I've seen, however.
 
Any info or speculation on these guys?
 
Thanks,
 
 
 
Don Barclay
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