Diagnostic characters
Like S. serpuloides but with a slightly higher and more pointed spire (apical angle 110-115°); surface glossy and without ornament except perhaps for a few spiral lines near the umbilicus, which is slightly blocked by an out-turning of the inner lip; outer lip with a bay at the periphery and another basally.
Other characters
There are four rather swollen whorls. The aperture is ear-shaped and the peristome is not plane. The umbilicus is smaller than in serpuloides and oval or comma-shaped, margined on its abapertural side by a spiral ridge which originates from the base of the aperture. The growth lines are sinuous, showing the same curvature as the outer lip. White or brownish. Up to 1.5 mm high, 1.5mm broad; last whorl occupies 90-95% of shell height, aperture 70%.
The animal presents much the same external features as Skenea serpuloides but is without an extra epipodial tentacle on the right. White.
Dikoleps nitens has been recorded between Norway (Hoisaeter. 1968a.b) and the Mediterranean. In the British Isles it has been found on most shores except those of the eastern Channel and the North Sea. It lives amongst weeds and in pools on rocky shores at L.W.S.T. and to depths of 100 m.