Welcome

to cypraea.eu. I show my snail collection here. Specifically, I show my collection of shells, associated with the Cypraeidae family. Ranked I have the species under the scheme of Felix Lorenz. So, as it was listed in April 2009 on his website. According to this, there are 248 different species - of these I picture 237. Overall, I have added 2,400+ cowries in over 15,000 photos.

At a glance

Beside the below shown features all sets can be grouped and expanded with other data (finding place, dealer, price, ...). Any specimen is also available in a higher resolution.

 
Finding places with Google maps
 
Comparison
 
Several views
 
List of introduced names

Fossil Cowries

For some time I have some fossil cowries in my collection and never really knew quite how I can integrate here. Originally I wanted to expand the generic and specific overviews by the fossil taxa, but then I finally decided against it and pack my ancient records now in the smorgasbord section Bits & Pieces visit ›

 
 

How many shells were sold last month on Ebay & Co.?

 
 

360°

Who is collecting cowries, will sooner or later notice other families. Here are some of them. I also have made pictures of other things I like.more...

That's how it works

The pages "Genera" and "Species" show the contents I would mainly like to exhibit. Therefore, I am going to describe briefly how the information is being presented. continue reading

Are you an expert?

Bent on solving a riddle? Here you will see pictures of cowries and ten different, possible names. Just one of them - you think! - is the right one. Give it a try.

enter riddle

Glossary

At some points you may find expressions which are not commonly used, especially when it comes to the description of shells. Therefore, I have compiled a list of those expressions to be found here.


continue reading

Cordial thanks to

warhorse Volker, who tooks 4,571 (four thousand five hundred seventy-one) Photos of 653 conches. This included not only a lot of hard work but also all the reflections around it. Without his help I would have never started with this website. Also, I have to say Thank You to the Marzipan Man aka Naschkater Markus for his efforts arround the list of synonyms and to my dear brother Markus, who helped me with the translations. Thanks also to Viola, she has made some recent translations. I hope I can persuade her again to do it.

Older updates

Updates

May-12-2013

18 new stamps

May-09-2013

36 new fossils

April-25-2013

Market Data updated - all transactions until yesterday.

April-15-2013

31 new shells

April-14-2013

264 new shells

April-14-2013

Now with Google Maps V3. The category "Region" is prepared for a new and nice allocation (still in beta state).

January-23-2013

Who wants to know how many Cypraeidae were sold on Ebay monthly, can see it here.

January-14-2013

Although this has nothing to do with Cowries I would like to show this: Homo sapiens vs. Homo neanderthalensis. More have a look here

January-13-2013

Today I have uploaded some YouTube finds. The first video of them "How to bring back color to seashells" is most interesting.

December-07-2012

Stamps

November-17-2012

I have taken photos of all of my "drawers". An overview, which I've always wanted. Who wants to see this can flip through here. In addition, it is now possible to filter the fossils. FYI: Lot I is no longer available.

October-27-2012

I have to split some genera, because in the meantime there were more than 150 specimens inside each group. So, Zoila is now seperated into friendii complex, marginata complex and other. Lyncina into carneola complex and other. Cypraeovula into algoensis alike, balls and other. I will change Erosaria (Naria) accordingly if the new taxonomy of Lorenz is out. The new layout is very useful, because one can see now the resembling species side by side which is pretty nice if you like to compare.

October-27-2012

My new lights are there and I can continue shooting. I have replaced the old ones because the lights are not coordinated and radiate different light. It had cost me always a lot of extra Photoshop-time, which is now hopefully unnecessary. I have uploaded 23 new shells, spread over the months of March to October.

October-22-2012

I′ve just uploaded 21 new 360-degree views. Even though this has nothing to do with cowries, this trilobite is incredible. And nobilis victor is one of the most beautiful member of Conus family. Always amazing: Thatcheria mirabilis

September-26-2012

Now then... in the coming weeks I will update my this year's acquisitions. Until then a little update: four animations. Here I like them best: Coral

Show older updates