Carmione bulbosa (Röding, 1798)

Distribution: Western Indo-Pacific realm. Red Sea and Gulf of Aden province (Egypt, Eritrea, Djibouti). Somali/Arabian province (Oman). Western Indian Ocean province (Mozambique. Tanzania. Zanzibar, Kenya, Western Madagascar). Pleistocene. Egypt (IFSM 44035). Mozambique (Kilburn, 1980).

Probably erroneous (need confirmation): Philippines [Central Indo-Pacific realm. Western Coral Triangle province. Eastern Philippines ecoregion]. Solomon Islands [Central Indo-Pacific realm. Eastern Coral Triangle province].

A comparatively large species displaying a tremendous variablity in colour pattern It is the type species of Carmione Gray, 1858. It is a valid species for all contemporary authors.

The species most closely resembles the congeneric and partly sympatric Carmione tigrina (Lamarck, 1811) which, however, lacks the conspicuous protuberance of the plication plate.

RV 6933b. Mozambique, Beira. Scale bar is 1 cm.