Alvania beanii
Shell of Alvania beanii
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Mollusca
Class:	Gastropoda
Subclass:	Caenogastropoda
Order:	Littorinimorpha
Superfamily:	Rissooidea
Family:	Rissoidae
Genus:	Alvania
Species:	A. beanii
Binomial name
Alvania beanii (Hanley in Thorpe, 1844)
Synonyms
Alvania (Turbona) beanii Thorpe, 1844 Alvania beani [sic] (misspelling) Alvania beanii calathus (Forbes & Hanley, 1850) Alvania brocchii Weinkauff, 1868 Alvania calathus (Forbes & Hanley, 1850) Alvania reticulata (Montagu, 1803) Alvania (Turbona) reticulata (Montagu, 1803) † Alvania tenuicostata L. Seguenza, 1903 Cingula beanii Hanley, 1844 Rissoa calathus Forbes & Hanley, 1850 Rissoa textilis R. A. Philippi, 1844 junior subjective synonym Turbo reticulatus J. Adams, 1797 (invalid: junior homonym of Turbo reticulatus Solander, 1766) Turbo reticulatus Montagu, 1803 Turbona calathus (Forbes & Hanley, 1850) Turbona cyrtoidea F. Nordsieck, 1972

Alvania beanii is a species of minute sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusc or micromollusk in the family Rissoidae.^[1]

The length of the shell varies between 2.2 mm and 4 mm.

This broad shell has an oval-conical shape. It contains up to seven whorls and with deep sutures. The protoconch is multispiral. Its surface is reticulated by the close-packed ribs and the spiral cords (6 to 7 spiral cords on the body whorl above the aperture). The large aperture has an oval shape with a thick rim. The outer lip shows internal ridges and a well-developed varix. The inner lip is reflected over the umbilical region (but there is no umbilicus).

The color of the shell is white, cream or orange. There are often two brown bands on the body whorl.

This species occurs in European waters, from the North Coast of Norway and the North East Atlantic Ocean down to the Canary Islands. It can also be found in the Mediterranean Sea (Corsica, Tunisia, Greece, Turkey).

Fossils have been found in Scaldisian (Pliocene) strata in Suffolk, Great Brittain; in Pleistocene strata in Belfast, Northern Ireland and Santa Flavia, Sicily.

• Nordsieck, F. (1972). Die europäischen Meeresschnecken (Opisthobranchia mit Pyramidellidae; Rissoacea). Vom Eismeer bis Kapverden, Mittelmeer und Schwarzes Meer. Gustav Fischer, Stuttgart. XIII + 327 pp.

• Thorpe C. (1844). British marine conchology; Being a descriptive catalogue, arranged according to the Lamarckian system, of the salt water shells of Great Britain. London: Edward Lumley. l + 267 pp
• Forbes, E. & Hanley, S. C. (1848-1853). A history of British Mollusca and their shells. Vol. 1: i-lxxx
• Adams, J. (1797). XV. The Specific Characters of some minute Shells discovered on the Coast of Pembrokeshire, with an Account of a new marine Animal. Transactions of the Linnean Society of London. 3(1): 64-69, pl. 13
• Seguenza L. (1903). Rissoidi neogenici della provincia di Messina. Paleeontographica Italica. 9: 35-60, pl. 11
• Montagu, G. (1803). Testacea Britannica or natural history of British shells, marine, land, and fresh-water, including the most minute: Systematically arranged and embellished with figures. J. White, London, Vol. 1, xxxvii + 291 pp;; Vol. 2, pp. 293–606, pl. 1-16
• Philippi, R. A. (1844). Enumeratio molluscorum Siciliae cum viventium tum in tellure tertiaria fossilium, quae in itinere suo observavit. Vol. 2.. Halle (Halis Saxorum): Eduard Anton. iv + 303 pp., pls 13-28
• Weinkauff, H. C. (1868). Die Conchylien des Mittelmeeres, ihre Geographische und Geologische Verbreitung. Band II. Mollusca cephala. T. Fischer, Cassel. vi, 512 pp.
• Thanasis Manousis, The Marine Mollusca of Greece: an up-to-date, systematic catalogue, documented with bibliographic and pictorial references
• Glibert, M. (1962). Les Mesogastropoda fossiles du Cénozoïque étranger des collections de l'Institut Royal des Sciences Naturelles de Belgique. Première partie. Cyclophoridae à Stiliferidae (inclus). Institut Royal des Sciences naturelles de Belgiques, Mémoires. Deuxième série. 69: 1-305