Maxwellia is a genus

Genus

In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...

 of sea snail

Sea snail

Sea snail is a common name for those snails that normally live in saltwater, marine gastropod molluscs....

s, marine

Marine (ocean)

Marine is an umbrella term. As an adjective it is usually applicable to things relating to the sea or ocean, such as marine biology, marine ecology and marine geology...

 gastropod mollusks in the family

Family (biology)

In biological classification, family is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species, with family fitting between order and genus. As for the other well-known ranks, there is the option of an immediately lower rank, indicated by the...

 Muricidae

Muricidae

Muricidae, common name murex snails or rock snails, is a large and varied taxonomic family of small to large predatory sea snails. With approximately 1,600 living species the Muricidae represent almost 10% of the Neogastropoda. Additionally, 1,200 fossil species have been recognised...

, the murex snails or rock snails.

The genus was named after Maxwell Smith (1888-1961), an American malacologist.

Description

The species in this genus have small to moderate-sized, solid fusiform

Fusiform

Fusiform means having a spindle-like shape that is wide in the middle and tapers at both ends.* Aneurysms can be classified as saccular or fusiform...

 shells with a low, globose spire

Spire (mollusc)

A spire is a descriptive term for part of the coiled shell of mollusks. The word is a convenient aid in describing shells, but it does not refer to a very precise part of shell anatomy: the spire consists of all of the whorls except for the body whorl...

. The siphonal canal

Siphonal canal

Some sea marine gastropods have a soft tubular anterior extension of the mantle called a siphon through which water is drawn into the mantle cavity and over the gill and which serves as a chemoreceptor to locate food. In many carnivorous snails, where the siphon is particularly long, the structure...

 is rather short, curved to the left, fused at the top and almost sealed below. They have six to seven well-developed varices per whorl

Whorl (mollusc)

A whorl is a single, complete 360° revolution or turn in the spiral growth of a mollusc shell. A spiral configuration of the shell is found in of numerous gastropods, but it is also found in shelled cephalopods including Nautilus, Spirula and the large extinct subclass of cephalopods known as the...

, with deep hollows at the sutures. These varices extend from the shoulder margin to the tip of the siphonal canal and become twisted at the base of the shell. The deflection of the varices at the top of the shoulder of each whorl gives rise to a small pointed spine pointing to the preceding varix.

Species

Species within the genus Maxwellia include:

• Maxwellia angermeyerae
  Maxwellia angermeyerae
  Maxwellia angermeyerae is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Muricidae, the murex snails or rock snails.-Description:The size of the subfusiform shell varies between 14 mm and 25 mm...
  
  (Emerson & D'Attilio, 1965)
• Maxwellia gemma
  Maxwellia gemma
  Maxwellia gemma, common name : the gem murex, is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Muricidae, the murex snails or rock snails.-Description:...
  
  (Sowerby, 1879)
• Maxwellia santarosana (Dall, 1905)