Shell small to moderately large, trochiform, « internally nacreous. Protoconch sculptured with network of threads that enclose roughly hexagonal spaces. First teleoconch whorl convex, subsequent whorls flat to convex or angulate; sculpture rarely absent, usually consisting of nodular spiral cords that multiply by intercalation (rarely by fission) and axial riblets, the axials generally restricted to earliest whorls, though in some species persistent throughout. Operculum chitinous, thin, multispiral. » – B. A. Marshall: “Calliostomatidae (Gastropoda : Trochoidea) from New Caledonia, the Loyalty Islands, and the northern Lord Howe Rise”, Mémoires du Muséum national d’histoire naturelle vol. 167, Paris 1995, p.383-384.
 

« …they are nearly all either perfectly smooth or slightly granulated, of a light and elegant form, a long and pointed spire, and no umbilicus. Several species, but little known, are found in the Mediterranean; and these are the most trochiform, – that is, the basal whorl is unusually flattened, which renders the aperture narrow… » – W. Swainson: Treatise on Malacology, London 1840, p.218-219.