download pdf

246 A??7erica?i Seashelh
I /4 to I % inches in length, similar to say ana, but smaller, more globose,
with an oily finish and generally more lightly colored. The Golden Olive
or Golden Panama is merely a rare orange form of this species. Sometimes
pure white or very dark-brown in color. A common West Indian species.
See remarks under say ana.
Genus Olwella Swainson 183
Distinguished from the genus Oliva by its much smaller shell and in pos-
sessing an operculum.
Olivella miitica Say Variable Dwarf Olive
North Carolina to Florida, Texas and the West Indies.
1
Plate 22V
/4 to /4 inch in length, half as wide, with a sharp apex. Strong, glossy
callus is present on the parietal wall at the upper end of the aperture. Varia-
ble in color: ashy grays and chocolate-browns to yellowish or whitish with
wide bluish-gray spiral bands. Sometimes brightly banded with white and
browns. A very common species found in warm, shallow waters.
Olivella nivea Gmelin West Indian Dwarf Olive
Southeast Florida, the West Indies and Bermuda.
Plate iih, j
V2 to I inch in length, whorls about 7, apex sharply pointed; nucleus
small, white, tan or purple. Suture channel is deep and fairly wide; with a
strongly concave, etched, spiral indentation on the side of the preceding
whorl. Color variable, usually cream-white with orange, tan or purple occur-
ring in clumps in a spiral series just below the suture and just above the
fasciole (that raised spiral ridge at the base of the shell). Fasciole lacks color.
Common from shore to 25 fathoms. Compare with jaspidea which has a
more bulbous apex.
Olivella jaspidea Gmelin Jasper Dwarf Olive
Southeast Florida to Barbados.
Plate 1 1 -i
% to % inch in length, whorls about 5, apex blunt, nuclear whorls large.
Color variable, usually grayish white with small, dull maculations of purplish
brown. Fasciole at base of columella with irregular, brown spots and bars.
A common West Indian species found in shallow water in sand. Compare
with nivea.
Olivella moorei Abbott Moore's Dwarf Olive
Off Key Largo to Key West, Florida.