This is a very old genus with species already existing in Cretaceous seep deposits off Japan (93 - 100 million years ago).

The Caribbean and the Pacific fauna were isolated about 3 million years ago by the closure of the Central American Isthmus.

The sculpture of the ovate fusiform shell shows scattered sigmoidal axial ribs that are crossed by spiral cords.

They are common in hydrothermal vents, hydrocarbon cold seeps and (more rarely) on deep-water food-falls, depending on the species.

Species within the genus Provanna include: Several fossil species have been described, predominantly identified from hydrocarbon seep deposits (Saether et al., 2010), including: There also are several fossil species known, but not formally described and named, from Central America, Japan, and possibly the Philippines (see Saether et al., 2010).