[1] The species was named in honor of Thomas Pennant (1726 – 1798), a Welsh naturalist.

The shell is more depressed than Gibbula cineraria, and (although the base is flatter) never inclined to a pyramidal form.

The present species is usually more widely umbilicate and broader than Gibbula cineraria.

The coloring is different; both have a similar kind of marking, but in the present species the longitudinal rays or streaks are red, besides being broader and not half so many as in the other species.

Just within the outer lip are two borders, one of yellow, the other of green variegated by red spots.