The shell is medium size, fusiform, slender, with a high turreted spire, solid, white under a grayish-brown periostracum, and consists of 8 whorls. The protoconch is missing. Whorls are roundly angled at the shoulder, with conspicuous subsutural fold, slightly concave subsutural slope, and almost vertical lateral sides. Sutures are shallow, wavy, and slightly channelled. Axial folds (12 on the body whorl and 11 on the penultimate one) are strong, oblique, broad, and rounded. They rapidly disappear on subsutural slope and slightly weaken towards the lower suture. On the body whorl, the folds are present on the whorl periphery and fade on the upper part of the shell base. Intervals between folds are narrower than the folds themselves. Spiral ribs are low, broad, rounded and divided by narrow interstices in the upper part of whorls below the subsutural slope. Towards the lower suture and on the shell base they become narrower, thread-like, and more widely spaced. Subsutural slope is smooth except for indistinct spiral grooves in the middle. Growth lines are numerous, thin, prominent on the subsutural slope. The shell base is almost flat; weakly curving, it passes smoothly into a long and straight canal. The aperture is narrow, elongate-oval and not differentiated from the canal. The inner lip is almost straight along most of its length, covered by wide but thin callus. The anal sinus, judging from growth lines, is rather deep, V-shaped, with the apex situated just below the middle of subsutural slope. H = 38.3, Hb = 24.7, Ha = 19.0, D = 11.6 mm.

The new species is very similar to Drillia investigatoris E.A.Smith, 1899 and differs in having a much smaller shell (65 mm in the unique holotype of D. investigatoris) with subsutural slope devoid of spiral sculpture.

Gulf of Aden