(Forbes, 1844)
Description (shell):
In general appearance the shell is like that of Alvania beani , but the V-shaped nicks in which the sutures lie are wider and deeper, the lattice of ornament coarser because costae and spiral ridges are fewer; costae lost on the base of the last whorl. Aperture with varix and teeth within the outer lip. Without a tooth on columella. There are 6-7 rather flat-sided whorls. Spire is regularly pyramidal. There are 16-20 costae on the last whorl, orthocline or very slightly prosocline, 15 on the penult, 13-16 on each of the rest apart from the larval ones. Spiral ridges number 9-12 on the last whorl, 4-6 on the penult, then 2-3. The larval shell has an irregular spiral pattern (A. cimicoides-protoconch). Last whorl occupies about two thirds of the shell height, aperture 40-45 %.
Size:
Up to 4 x 2.5 mm.
Colour:
White or yellowish, apical whorls golden brown; a vertical brown band on the last whorl along abapertural side of varix which it crosses near the periphery, sometimes extended along the whorl subsuturally and peripherally (A. cimicoides-photo).
Habitat:
Lives from a few metres depth to 500 m; on soft bottoms.
Distribution:
Uncommon. Recorded from the Mediterranean to Norway, but is probably absent from the southern North Sea (Distr. A. cimicoides). In the British Isles it has been found, but not recently, in a number of places between south-west England and the Northern Isles.