Most are known chiefly from Puerto Plata to the Samaná Peninsula in the Cordillera Septentrional that forms the northern coast of the Dominican Republic.

A second, lowland group occupies the easternmost portion of the island from the coast west to Santo Domingo.

[2] Abbottella and its relatives appear to have evolved on mainland Hispaniola, and thus were not part of the Tiburon Peninsula species assemblage that was tectonically rafted to the island.

Preliminary radular and phylogenetic studies clearly indicate that Abbottella and its relatives are a distinct monophyletic group apart from the rest of the Annulariidae.

The spiral sculpture consist of obsolete cords, the intersection of which with the axial ribs forms tubercles ranging in strength from minute to strong and hollow projections.

Operculum with the calcified spiral lamella rising vertically from the whorl.In 1920, 8 species were classified in the genus Abbottella in 1920.

[2] Abbottella may be organized into five species complexes based on conchological characteristics; these groups may be worthy of subgeneric status.

This group occurs in the lowlands on the southeastern coast from Santo Domingo to the easternmost portion of the island and north to the Samaná Peninsula.

Zoogeographically, this group presents a problem: the two species occur at opposite ends of the island (Thomazeau, Haiti and the Samaná Peninsula and environs).

[2] A fourth complex consists of species with small, turbinate shells, strongly sculptured with the outer lip serrate or undulating.

The group is distributed in the Cordillera Septentrional from Sósua to the eastern tip of the Samaná Peninsula.

Limestone deposits mainly exist on the coast, whereas the interior mountain ranges are primarily igneous and do not harbor these snails.