| Money cowrie
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| Live animal, with mantle visible
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| Five views of a shell of Monetaria moneta
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| Scientific classification
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| Kingdom:
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Animalia
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| Phylum:
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Mollusca
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| Class:
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Gastropoda
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| Subclass:
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Caenogastropoda
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| Order:
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Littorinimorpha
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| Family:
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Cypraeidae
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| Genus:
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Monetaria
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| Species:
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M. moneta
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| Binomial name
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Monetaria moneta
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| Synonyms
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- Cypraea annulifera (Coen, 1949)
- Cypraea barthelemyi Bernardi, 1861
- Cypraea circumvallata (M. Schilder & F. A. Schilder, 1933) (Synonym)
- Cypraea gibbosa Schröter, 1804
- Cypraea mercatorium (Rochebrunne, 1884)
- Cypraea moneta Linnaeus, 1758 (basionym)
- Cypraea monetacongo Gmelin, J.F., 1791
- Cypraea numisma Röding, P.F., 1798
- Cypraea gibbosa Schröter, J.S., 1804
- Cypraea marginata Kiesenwetter, 1872
- Erosaria moneta (Linnaeus, 1758)
- Erosaria monetoides Iredale, T., 1939
- Monetaria britannica Schilder, F.A., 1927
- Monetaria bulgarica Kojumdgieva, E., 1960
- Monetaria chionella Sulliotti, G.R., 1924
- Monetaria ethnographica Rochebrune, A.-T. de, 1884
- Monetaria ethnographica circumvallata Schilder, F.A. & M. Schilder, 1933
- Monetaria etolu Steadman & Cotton, 1943
- Monetaria harrisi Iredale, 1939
- Monetaria icterina (Lamarck, 1810)
- Monetaria isomeres Iredale, T., 1939
- Monetaria mercatorium Rochebrune, A.-T. de, 1884
- Monetaria pleuronectes Rochebrune, A.-T. de, 1884
- Monetaria plumaria Rochebrune, 1884
- Monetaria pseudomoneta C.-H. Hu, 1992
- Monetaria rhomboides Schilder & Schilder, 1933
- Monetaria vestimenti Rochebrune, A.-T. de, 1884
- Monetaria moneta subalata (f) Schilder, F.A. & M. Schilder, 1933
- Monetaria moneta endua Steadman, W.R. & B.C. Cotton, 1943
- Monetaria moneta erua Steadman, W.R. & B.C. Cotton, 1943
- Monetaria moneta etolu Steadman, W.R. & B.C. Cotton, 1943
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Monetaria moneta, common name the money cowrie, is a species of small sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Cypraeidae, the cowries.
This species is called "money cowrie" because the shells were historically widely used in many Pacific and Indian Ocean countries as shell money before coinage was in common usage.