See Nowell-Usticke (1959). The description is very short, but the holotype is representative.
Protoconch with almost 5 smooth and white whorls (in spite of the three ones mentioned in the original description, because the protoconch was broken at the apex); the lower whorls are scarcely wider than the first ones (as shown in the figure of the holotype). Under magnification, it is possible to see an elevation like a step near the lower suture .
Teleoconch with at least 6 whorls, even reaching up to 8 whorls; the subsutural cord is dark brown, except in the first two whorls where it is almost invisible. The colour is limited to the first spiral cord and does not reach the suture; this cord is always narrower than the other two, the nodules smaller, and the colour band very limited. At the beginning of the teleoconch there are three cords; spiral cords 1-2 may be a little closer in first whorls. Base totally white. At the base, a new brown cord appears, but very fine and narrow. From the periphery, the profile of the base is concave and white, and this base is more extended than the aperture, which is slightly oval.

This species has been synonymized with C. albovittata C.B. Adams, 1850, but the colour and the protoconch are different (see below).
The differentiation with other species with brown and white bands is as follows:
- C. lata is smaller, usually with less than 6 teleoconch whorls, the profile is ovoid, the subsutural cord is wider, the brown band is also wider, the colour partially extended to spiral cord 2, and the nodules are lighter; the base is short, not concave, and usually with a brown colour; the protoconch has not got any cords.
- C. vicola has a smaller, paucispiral protoconch and spiral cord 1 is wider.
- C. io has a smaller shell, with a brown base. Spiral cord 1 of the teleoconch is wider and darker, brownish from the first whorl onwards; the protoconch has not got any spiral cords.
- C. beneitoi spec. nov. is smaller, more fragile, the brown band is very narrow and with a very light colour, the protoconch has sutural riblets.

The present species has been recorded from the Virgin Islands (type locality), Dutch Caribbean Islands (De Jong & Coomans,1988), northwest of the Gulf of Mexico (Ode,1989), and Cuba and Mexico in the present work.