(Michaud, 1832)
Description (shell);
Shell semitransparent, plump, with a markedly cyrtoconoid outline, short spire and 5-6 moderately swollen whorls, the last one being relatively large. The sutures lie, in profile, at the base of V-shaped excavations. Surface, except on base of last whorl, marked by oblong reticulations, elongated along the whorls. There are 15-17 spiral ridges on the last whorl, 7-9 on the penult, then 5-6 and 2-3 on the next. The costae are prosocline and more variable in number: 16-22 or more on the last whorl, 13-18 on the penult, then 12-17 and 8-15 on the next. They die out on the last whorl before reaching the base. The aperture is pointed and much narrower adapically than in the other Alvania species and with a peristome everted basally. Umbilicus absent. Last whorl occupies three quarters of the shell height, the aperture half.
Size:
Up to 6 x 4 mm.
Colour:
Cream. The apex is sometimes orange yellow.
Animal:
The body of this animal is like that of other species in the genus.
Habitat:
It lives amongst algae and under stones at LWST and below.
Distribution:
Found alive only off the Channel Islands, although dead shells have been recorded from further north (Distr. A. lactea). Elsewhere, it extends south to Morocco and the Mediterranean.