Belongs within: Columbellidae.
Aesopus is a genus of high-spired dove shells with a more or less distinct anterior columellar callus and a short, bulbous protoconch (Radwin 1978).
Characters (Radwin 1978): Shell small (4–14mm), slender, cylindrical; spire high, subacute, suture shallow; body whorl small, aperture short, broad, apertural lip smooth, unthickened, columella straight, smooth, generally with small, heavy anterior callus, siphonal canal very short; shell surface commonly glossy with very fine, partly obsolete spiral sculpture; protoconch of one or two bulbous unsculptured whorls. Radula with subrectangular median teeth flanked on each side by sigmoid, bicuspid lateral tooth.
<==Aesopus Gould 1860 [incl. Lavesopus Iredale 1929]W94
|--*A. japonicus Gould 1860R78
|--A. aliciae Marincovich 1973BC01
|--A. arestus Dall 1919R78
|--A. australis (Angas 1877)W94
|--A. cassandra (Hedley 1904)W94
|--A. chrysalloides Carpenter 1866O27
|--A. clausiliformis (Kiener 1834)WBS-S15
|--A. crebrecostatus Tenison-Woods 1879F71
|--A. eurytoides (Carpenter 1864) [=Truncaria eurytoides]O27
|--A. hilium (Hedley 1908)W94
|--A. metcalfei (Reeve 1860) [=Terebra metcalfei]R78
|--A. myrmecoon Dall 1916O27
|--A. oldroydiD19
|--A. pallidulus (Hedley 1906)W94
|--‘Columbella’ peculiaris Guppy 1867R78
|--A. plurisulcatus (Reeve 1859)W94 (see below for synonymy)
|--A. sanctus Dall 1919R78
|--A. spiculum (Duclos in Chenu 1846)W94 (see below for synonymy)
`--A. stearnsi (Tryon 1883) (see below for synonymy)R78
Aesopus plurisulcatus (Reeve 1859)W94 [=Columbella plurisulcataH08, Pyrene plurisulcataH08; incl. Aesopus filosus Angas 1867W94, A. filamentosus (l. c.)H08, Columbella filosa non Dujardin 1837H08]
Aesopus spiculum (Duclos in Chenu 1846)W94 [incl. Columbella cumingi Reeve 1859W94, Pyrene cumingiiH09, C. cumingi var. queenslandica Hedley 1913W94, *Lavesopus queenslandicusW94]
Aesopus stearnsi (Tryon 1883) [=Columbella (Seminella) stearnsi, Nitidella filosa Stearns 1873 non Aesopus filosus Angas 1867]R78
*Type species of generic name indicated
References
[BC01] Boyko, C. B., & J. R. Cordeiro. 2001. Catalog of Recent type specimens in the Division of Invertebrate Zoology, American Museum of Natural History. V. Mollusca, part 2 (class Gastropoda [exclusive of Opisthobranchia and Pulmonata], with supplements to Gastropoda [Opisthobranchia], and Bivalvia). Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 262: 1–170.
[D19] Dall, W. H. 1919. Descriptions of new species of mollusks of the family Turritidae from the west coast of America and adjacent regions. Proceedings of the United States National Museum 56 (2288): 1–86, pls 1–24.
[F71] Fletcher, H. O. 1971. Catalogue of type specimens of fossils in the Australian Museum, Sydney. Australian Museum Memoir 13: 1–167.
[H08] Hedley, C. 1908. Studies on Australian Mollusca. Part X. Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales 33: 456–489, pls 7–10.
[H09] Hedley, C. 1909. The Marine Fauna of Queensland: Address by the President of Section D. Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science: Brisbane.
[O27] Oldroyd, I. S. 1927. The Marine Shells of the West Coast of North America vol. 2 pt 1. Stanford University Press: Stanford University (California).
[R78] Radwin, G. E. 1978. The family Columbellidae in the western Atlantic. Part IIb.—The Pyreninae (continued). Veliger 20 (4): 328–344.
[WBS-S15] Willan, R. C., C. Bryce & S. M. Slack-Smith. 2015. Kimberley marine biota. Historical data: molluscs. Records of the Western Australian Museum Supplement 84: 287–343.
[W94] Wilson, B. 1994. Australian Marine Shells vol. 2. Prosobranch Gastropods. Part Two (Neogastropods). Odyssey Publishing: Kallaroo (Western Australia).