Marine zoogeographical units are given according to Spalding et al''s "Marine ecoregions of the world", abbreviated MEOW (2007). These units apply to shore and shallow water faunas (continental shelf, depth <200 m) only. The few true deep water species recognised, however, are attributed to the same MEOW units with the additions UPPER SLOPE (200-1000 m), LOWER SLOPE (1000-3000 m) or ABYSSAL (3000-6000 m; no olivids or olivellids recorded from these depths).
In a controversial book (Petit, 2013) Petuch (2013; list of Olividae/Olivellidae errata) divided the Tropical Western Atlantic province, the North Brazil Shelf province, and the Tropical Southwestern Atlantic province, in several subprovinces. Petuch's subprovinces are adopted here.
MEOW’s realms, provinces and ecoregions are defined as follows (Spalding, 2007: box 1). Numbers for the provinces (1-62). Realms are indicated in boldface, provinces (1–62) in roman typeface. Hyperlinks will lead you to search results containing data for the respective realm/province. Provinces without hyperlinks do not (seem to) shelter any Olividae or Olivellidae species.
The image galleries of species treated on this site follow the same MEOW units with the following prefix: A. Recent/Holocene. Other prefixes are; B. Pleistocene; C. Pliocene; D. Miocene; E. Oligocene; F. Eocene; G. Paleocene; H. Cretaceous. An image of a species found in Senegal, for example, may be found in image gallery A.17 - Gulf of Guinea. An image of a species found in Hawaii may be found in amage gallery A.37 - Hawaii.
| Realm | Province (units in parentheses) |
| Arctic realm | No provinces definined. No Olivoidea, no Colubrariidae, no Babyloniidae, no Harpidae. |
| Temperate Northern Atlantic realm | |
| 2. Northern European Seas province. No Olivoidea, no Colubrariidae, no Babyloniidae, no Harpidae. | |
| 3. Lusitanian province (Canary Islands) | |
| 4. Mediterranean Sea province. No Olivoidea, at least one Colubrariidae, no Babyloniidae, no Harpidae. | |
| 5. Cold Temperate Northwest Atlantic province. No Olivoidea, no Colubrariidae, no Babyloniidae, no Harpidae. | |
| 6. Warm Temperate Northwest Atlantic province Two ecoregions (from Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, south to Palm Beach County, Florida and from Naples, Collier County, Florida, in the south to Veracruz, Veracruz State, Mexico). | |
| 7. Black Sea province. No Olivoidea, no Colubrariidae, no Babyloniidae, no Harpidae. | |
| Temperate Northern Pacific realm | |
| 8. Cold Temperate Northwest Pacific province. | |
| 9. Warm Temperate Northwest Pacific province (Central Kuroshio Current, East China Sea) | |
| 10. Cold Temperate Northeast Pacific province (Aleutian Islands, Gulf of Alaska, North American Pacific Fjordland, Puget Trough/Georgia Basin, Oregon, Washington State, British Columbia, Northern California) | |
| 11. Warm Temperate Northeast Pacific province (Southern Californian Bight, Sea of Cortez, Magdalena Transition) | |
| Tropical Atlantic realm |
12. Tropical Northwestern Atlantic province Bahamian subprovince (Bahamas, Northern Cuba, Turks & Caicos). Antillean subprovince (Anguilla, Belize, Cayman Islands, Southern Cuba, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, Eastern Yucatan, Mexico). Bermudan subprovince (Bermuda). Nicaraguan subprovince (Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama). Venezuelan subprovince (Colombia, Venezuela). Grenadian subprovince (Anguilla, Antigua & Barbuda, Barbados, Aruba, Bonaire, Curaçao, Dominica, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Los Roques Atoll, Martinique, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent, Tobago, Trinidad). Subprovinces after Petuch (2013). 13. North Brazil Shelf province. Considered to be the Surinamian subprovince (from the Orinoco River Delta, Venezuela, South Trinidad, Guyana, Suriname, French Guyana, to Amapá State, Brazil) of the previous province by Petuch (2013). 14. Tropical Southwestern Atlantic province . Considered to be Cearaian subprovince of the Brazilian Mollusca Faunal province by Petuch (2013). (Brazil; Pará State, Maranhão State, Ceará State, Rio Grande do Norte State, Paraíba State, Pernambuco State, Alagoas State. Atol das Rocas Archipelago. Fernando de Noronha Islands). 15. St. Helena and Ascension Islands province 16. West African Transition province (Cabo Verde archipelago and African coastline from Mauritania south to southern Senegal) 17. Gulf of Guinea province (Angola, Benin, Cameroon, Congo (Brazzaville), Democratic Republic of the Congo (Kinshasa), Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ghana, Côte d'Ivoire, Liberia, Nigeria, São Tomé and Príncipe, Sierra Leone, Togo) |
| Western Indo-Pacific realm |
18. Red Sea and Gulf of Aden province (Djibouti, Egypt, Erithrea, Israel, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, North Somalia, Sudan, Yemen) 19. Somali/Arabian province (Bahrain, Kuwait, Iran, Oman, West Pakistan, East Somalia, Qatar, United Arab Emirates) 20. Western Indian Ocean province (Cargados Carajos/Tromelin Island, Comores, Madagascar, East African Coral Coast (Kenya, Tanzania, Zanzibar), Northern Kwazulu-Natal, Mascarene Islands (Mauritius, Réunion, Rodrigues), Mayotte, Mozambique, Seychelles, Somalia, Saya de Malha Bank. 21. West and South Indian Shelf province (West and South India, Sri Lanka) 22. Central Indian Ocean Islands province (Chagos, Maldives) 23. Bay of Bengal province (East India, Bangladesh) 24. Andaman province (Andaman Islands, Myanmar, Nicobar Islands, Thailand, Southwest Sumatra) |
| Central Indo-Pacific realm |
25. South China Sea province (South China, Southwest Taiwan, Northern Vietnam, South China Sea) 26. Sunda Shelf province (Eastern Malaysia, Eastern Thailand, Cambodia, Southern Vietnam, Java Sea) 27. Java Transitional province (Cocos-Keeling, Christmas Island, South Java, Southeast Sumatra) 28. South Kuroshio province (South Taiwan, Okinawa Chain) 29. Tropical Northwestern Pacific province (Ogasawara Island, Mariana Island (Guam). East Caroline Island, West Caroline Islands) 30. Western Coral Triangle province (Banda Sea, Eastern Borneo, Brunei, Lesser Sunda, Moluccas, Philippines, Sabah, Northeast Sulawesi, Sulawesi Sea, Western Irian-Jaya 31. Eastern Coral Triangle province (New Britain, Northern Papua New-Guinea, Southeast Papua New-Guinea, Solomon Islands) 32. Sahul Shelf province (Australia (Eastern Western Australia, Northern Territory, Northern Queensland), Central South New-Guinea, Gulf of Papua) 33. Northeast Australian Shelf province (Australia, Queensland) 34. Northwest Australian Shelf province (Australia, Western Australia) 35. Tropical Southwestern Pacific province (Tonga Islands, Fiji Islands, Vanuatu, New Caledonia, Coral Sea) 36. Lord Howe and Norfolk Islands province. No Olivoides, no Colubrariidae, no Babyloniidae, no Harpidae. |
| Eastern Indo-Pacific realm |
37. Hawaii province (Hawaii) 38. Marshall, Gilbert, and Ellis Islands province (Marshall Islands (Kwajalein Atoll, Rongelap Atoll), Kiribati (Gilbert Islands), Tuvalu (Ellice Islands) 39. Central Polynesia province (Line Islands, Phoenix/Tokelau/Northern Cook Islands, Samoa Islands) 40. Southeast Polynesia province (Tuamotus, Rapa-Pitcairn, Southern Cook/Austral Islands, Society Islands) 41. Marquesas province (Marquesas) 42. Easter Island province. No Olivoidea in this province. |
| Tropical Eastern Pacific realm |
43. Tropical East Pacific province (Colombia, Cocos Island, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Mexico, Panama) 44. Galapagos province (Galapagos Archipelago) |
| Temperate South America realm |
45. Warm Temperate Southeastern Pacific province (Chile, Peru) 46. Juan Fernández and Desventuradas province 47. Warm Temperate Southwestern Atlantic province () 48. Magellanic province () 49. Tristan Gough province. No Olivoides, no Colubrariidae, no Babyloniidae, no Harpidae. |
| Temperate Southern Africa realm |
50. Benguela province 51. Agulhas province (Agulhas Bank, South Africa; East Cape, West Cape, Kwazulu-Natal) 52. Amsterdam-St Paul province. No Olivoides, no Colubrariidae, no Babyloniidae, no Harpidae. |
| Temperate Australasia realm |
53. Northern New Zealand province (Kermadec Island, N half of North Island) 54. Southern New Zealand province (S half of North Island, South Island, Stewart Island, Snares Islands) 55. East Central Australian Shelf province () 56. Southeast Australian Shelf province () |
| Southern Ocean realm |
59. Subantarctic Islands province () 60. Scotia Sea province () 61. Continental High Antarctic province. No Olivoidea, no Colubrariidae, no Babyloniidae, no Harpidae. 62. Subantarctic New Zealand province. No Olivoidea, no Colubrariidae, no Babyloniidae, no Harpidae. |