Shell (holotype) 5.45 mm high; spire narrowly and evenly conical, 2.7 x as high as aperture, mean spire angle 50°; anomphalous.
Colour. Protoconch white; first half teleoconch whorl orange, following 3.5 whorls with orange spots on P3, elsewhere translucent white, brilliantly nacreous though thin translucent outer shell laver. Protoconch 350 µm wide, sculptured with dense network of fine, crisp threads that enclose roughly hexagonal spaces. Extreme tip of apical fold tightly pinched, termal varix strong. Teleoconch of 6.10 whorls; 1st tenth whorl sculptured with crisp spiral threads and minute granules, sharply delineated by growth scar. First whorl convex, subsequent whorls flat, periphery angulate. base flat. Sculpture of rounded spiral cords that multiply by intercalation and gradually enlarge, and persistent axial costae; rounded nodules at intersections. P1. P2. S2. P3 and P4 commencing immediately; P2 and P3 strong and similar on 1st 1.5 whorls, after which P2 widens and weakens, becoming obsolete early on 3rd whorl; P3 peripheral, strongest throughout. PI and S2 commencing as fine threads, both rapidly enlarging on 2nd whorl to become almost as large as P3. similar throughout. Late on 3rd whorl 2 tertiary spirals resolve between PI and S2 in space formerly occupied by P2, then rapidly enlarge to resemble PI and S2. P4 weak throughout, almost entirely covered by succeeding whorls. A tertiary spiral intercalating between S2 and P3 late on last adult whorl. Base with 8 similar spiral cords that are weaker and more weakly nodular than spire spirals; a weak tertiary spiral between outermost spiral and P4. Axial costae weak and crowded on 1st half whorl, thereafter strong on spire and weak on base with interspaces wider than each axial; collabral on 1st whorl and on base, non-collabral to varying degrees on subsequent whorls. Fine collabral growth lines throughout, prosocline on spire, opisthocyrt on base. Aperture subquadrate. Inner lip of moderate thickness, almost orthocline, parietal glaze very thin, outer lip rim broken back. thin. Animal unknown. Southern Loyalty Islands, dead, 370 m.
REMARKS. — Compared with Selastele pictum, the southern Australian species S. retiarium differs in having P2 stronger and persistent throughout, with P3 also stronger and set higher on each whorl. Apart from several sculptural details, the New Zealand type species differs in having each teleoconch whorl concave on the adapical half and convex abapically.