North and South Islands (northern limit: north of Awakino, Waikato and Tolaga Bay, East Coast; southern limit: Tonga Island, east off Pikikiruna Range and Marlborough Sounds).
New Zealand Threat Classification SystemNot threatened
Bio StatusIndigenous (Endemic)
DescriptionShell small, 3.2mm wide at 5 whorls, thin, subdiscoidal, axially ribbed, umbilicated, yellowish-white with brown zigzaggy streaks. Spire very little elevated, broadly convex; umbilicus wide, about a third of max. shell diameter. Protoconch of 1.6 whorls, 621µm wide, first quarter to half of embryonic shell without well defined sculpture, then fine closely spaced axial ribs appear. Weak spiral lirae (most clearly visible nearer the suture) go across axials and much finer weakly developed irregular axials occur between protoconch axials. Teleoconch whorls slowly increasing, convex, periphery and base rounded. Sculpture consisting of primary axials of alternating height, crested by long periostracal lamellae, interstitial secondary axials of equal height crowned with periostracal lamellae. Closely spaced spiral lirae traverse axials, creating a distinctly reticulated pattern with tiny beads at the intersections. Primary and secondary axials obliquely directed forward above the periphery, then arcuate and descending almost straight over the periphery to the base. Aperture round; outer lip retracting on the suture and forming a distinct sinus. Columella vertical, short, arcuate. Inner lip slightly thickened, not reflexed; parietal wall with a thin shining glaze.
HabitatLitter dweller in shrublands and forests from near sealevel to 1100 m.
