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A lot with several shells of the beautiful Star Cyclostreme, Arene cruentata (Mühfeld, 1824) was collected in St. Croix in 1960. The name of the collector was not recorded, but it i possible the shells were collected by Nowell-Usticke, who collected widely around the island and region in the 1960's.

The shells vary in size and somewhat in shape, but are smaller than 12 mm (1/2 in); the species may reach up to 16 mm (3/5 in).

Fresh specimens have a rounded shell with triangular spines at the periphery of the body whorl. The background is white or off-white, with reddish-brown radial blotches on the upper surface of the shell.

This species is distributed in the Gulf of Mexico from Texas to Florida, and the Caribbean.

Although these particular specimens illustrated here are not from Texas, the species also occurs here. Read more about this species in Tunnell et al (2010)’s Encyclopedia of Texas Seashells, page 121.