Shells minute to small, often internal, whitish, translucent, bulliform with a depressed spire and an expanded aperture. « The wide aperture normally covers about two thirds of the shell. Shells can be smooth but often sculpture is present; pits can be separated forming a punctuate sculpture or be connected, resulting in chains. Sometimes the pits are fused, forming transverse grooves or a reticulate pattern of raised transverse and longitudinal lines. » – Ohnheiser & Malaquias: “Systematic revision of the gastropod family Philinidae (Mollusca: Cephalaspidea) in the north-east Atlantic Ocean with emphasis on the Scandinavian Peninsula”, Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society vol.167(2), London 2013, p.273.
 

« Shell scroll-like conical, apex blunted; spiral sculpture consists of transverse flat ribs divided with chains of deep pits; chains of shallow pits on the ribs; elongate gizzard plates equal in size and shape, with two longitudinal slits on outer surface; » – Chaban & Nekhaev: “Hermania indistincta comb. nov. from the Barents Sea - New species and genus for the fauna of the Russian Seas”, Zoosystema Rosssica vol.24(2), Moscow 2015, p.149.
 

« Shell in almost all cases internal, thin, white to transparent, mostly flattened plate-like, but can be globose; aperture large, covering more than half of the shell; usually not umbilicated; if present, sculpture consisting of pits, fused pits, or reticulate ridges. Three gizzard plates often present, widest part in the mid-region, usually boat-shaped in lateral view; ventral surface sculptured dorsal surface sculptureless. » – Ohnheiser & Malaquias: op. cit. p.279.