Small species with a biconic axially ribbed shell, mottled pale tan with a narrow white spiral below the suture and a dark reddish or purple-brown anterior. Shell small, biconic, 3.5 to 4.3 mm long (avg. 3.84 mm) and 1.55 to 1.95 mm wide (avg. 1.70 mm) in 12 specimens measured. Adult shells with 4 to 4.25 teleoconch whorls (avg. 4.00). Protoconch smooth, off white, 3.25 to 3.5 whorls (avg. 3.14). Dominant sculpture of axial ridges, except on first two teleoconch whorls where strong spiral ridges make the sculpture cancellate. One weak subsutural groove cuts across tops of axial ridges. Shell off-white with vague chestnut blotches that give an overall mottled tan affect, a dark purplish brown base and usually a narrow white band slightly below the suture. Aperture edge thickened, with a few denticles internally. Shallow posterior sinus present in aperture edge. Parietal wall denticulate, anterior edge of callus detached. Aperture white, with purple flush on anterior columellar wall. Body coloration. Body cream colored with white specks overall. Operculum ovoid with a terminal nucleus, darker centrally, muscle scar bilobed, no keel. Radula: One radula obtained whole had 123 tooth rows. Lateral teeth in adult specimens dissected 18 to 20 µm long, 7 µm wide. Lateral teeth with three pointed secondary cusps, the basal cusp pointed and curved toward the membrane, and separated from the distal two by a wide gap.

Taxonomic history. Charles Baker Adams did not illustrate this species when he described it; Reeve illustrated it in 1858. In both cases its shell was described as pale, with a dark base, which is characteristic of this species, and its identity has not been in question. Carpenter (1863) considered it a species of Anachis (which he allied with Pisania based on the operculum) while Tryon (1883) placed it in Columbella (Seminella) and based his illustration on that of Reeve. Anachis rufotincta (with a more reddish anterior end) was named by Carpenter (1857) from Mazatlan, and as reported by Tryon (1883) and later authors, is a synonym.