[2][3] Dall & Bartsch used the epithet "stephensi",[1] named after Katherine "Kate" Stephens (c. 1853-1954), curator at the Natural History Museum of San Diego.

This museum considers this species a synonym of Odostomia tenuisculpta Carpenter, 1864[4] The bluish-white shell has an elongate-conic shape.

The whorls of the protoconch are almost completely obliquely immersed in the first of the succeeding turns, above which only the outer edge of the last volution projects.

In addition to the spiral markings, the entire surface shows fine incremental lines.

It is provided with a strong oblique fold opposite the obsolete umbilical chink.