Cheirodonta Marshall, 1983

Type species. Cerithium perversum var. pallescens Jeffreys, 1867; original designation. Recent, eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean.

Diagnosis. Embryonic shell with hemispherical and arrowhead-shaped granules; larval shell with two spiral cords crossed by axial ribs; teleoconch with late development of median spiral cord; suture faintly distinct; posterior canal almost detached from aperture; presence of supranumerical cords; radular formula (6–8)-1-1-1-(6– 8), central tooth (seven to nine cusps) and lateral teeth (eight to nine cusps) are short and broad, all marginal teeth (seven to 13 cusps) or outermost teeth hand-like with elongate basal shafts (partly based on Marshall 1983).

Remarks. The genus has up to now six species worldwide (Bouchet & Gofas 2014), four in the western Atlantic (Rosenberg 2009). However, species previously assigned to Cheirodonta in the Caribbean actually belong to Nanaphora; see remarks of Nanaphora verbernei (Moolenbeek & Faber) comb. nov.