Shells of the family Olividae tend to be cylindrical, smooth and shiny, and variously patterned with numerous fine wrinkles. The spire is fairly low; the aperture is long, smooth, and without teeth; and, the columella shows folds. Like many gastropods, these molluscs maintain a highly polished shell, by pulling their mantle flaps over the exposed surface.

 

All members of the Olividae family are carnivorous sand-burrowers. Although in a different superfamily than the Muricidae, the Olividae secrete a similar mucus from which a purple dye can be made (Monfils, 2001) They are distributed in warm and tropical seas.

 

Classification

Class: Gastropoda

Clade: Neogastropoda

Superfamily: Olivoidea

Family: Olividae

 

Major Genera

• Genus: Agaronia
• Genus: Amalda
• Genus: Ancilla
• Genus: Ancillista
• Genus: Baryspira
• Genus: Oliva
• Genus: Olivancillaria
• Genus: Olivella

Ancillista cingulata (Sowerby, 1830)
Cingulate Ancilla
with its mantle almost completely
engulfing the shell (in, Wilson, 1994)

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