Oliva miniacea or sericea?

[dave r]

If you compare the two you will find O.sericea is a wider, more oval shell whereas miniacea is taller and more cylindrical. Sericea generally has a pale yellow to pale orange mouth, miniacea usually has a deeper orange to red one. You are right on the pattern of sericea, it is much finer than that on miniacea and tends to be grey, black and white.Miniacea tends towards yellows and reds with dark browns. These are all guidelines of course, visit gastropods.com and you will see good photos of both species.
Dave

[sakura-of-the-sea]

I think I just noticed another detail while on that website; the channeled shoulder along the whorls is sharper and more defined in miniacea  than sericea, which is more rounded. A lot of times, I miss subtle details since patterns have a tendency to be quite variable. It takes someone else to point it out before I can see it myself. Thanks again, Dave!  <img src="images/smiley/jap.gif" alt="" border="0" />

[sakura-of-the-sea]

I've looked at photos of both species & am having difficulty finding differences between the two. I did notice that the patterning on <i>sericea</i> seems to be smaller than on <i>miniacea</i>, but is that enough to discern? I also am not sure about the orange apertures either. Some are shown with light to almost yellow mouths to deep orange. Then again, a lot of it could be camera flash-created shadow. Any tips to settle this issue?