Iredale introduced this name in 1916 with the type Colombella isomella Duclos, 1840, but did not actually describe the genus. Currently Zafrona consists of a combination of a few Indo-Pacific and tropical American species. Shells in this group are small (less than 10 mm long) and fusiform, with well rounded whorls and axial and often spiral sculpture. Members of the genus, especially those in the American tropics, are very similar in shell characteristics to members of the genus Metanachis Thiele, 1924, and Wilson (1994) has Metanachis as a synonym of Zafrona. A conclusion on this awaits further study, however on the basis of strictly conchological characteristics, the tropical American Zafrona species are more similar to Indo-Pacific Metanachis than they are to Indo-Pacific Zafrona. Type species by original designation: Zafrona isomella (Duclos, 1840).