Shell small for the group, solid, porcellaneous in structure. Holotype: 12.1 mm in length. 4.6 mm in width. The protoconch whorls are broken off in both specimens, but in the paratype two whorls, obliquely set. globose and cream colored remain. The teleoconch has 5 whorls. The body whorl is larger than half the shell length and the aperture is smaller than half of the shell length. The outline of the upper teleoconch whorls quite straight. These upper teleoconch whorls are straight in the paratype. slightly convex in the holotype.The body whorl is globose, very concave towards the siphonal canal. The suture is deep, set in a very small sutural channel. The sculpture consists of flattened, quite broad spiral ribs, the interspaces between these spiral ribs are very narrow, almost spiral grooves. The whole is covered with weak axial grooves. These grooves go all over the top of the spiral ribs, which tends to give a beaded appearance to the shells. The sutural spiral rib and the ones on the periphery are broader than elsewhere. There are 6 spiral ribs between the top of the aperture and the suture of the last whorl. The aperture is quite broad, the outer lip is thickened and beaded, the whole aperture is covered with a glaze. On the columellar side 5 columellar folds rapidly decreasing in size and not very strong. The upper 2 folds much stronger than the lower ones. Siphonal canal turned to the left when viewed from the ventral side and quite narrow. The base color of the shell is a pinkish grey. There are 3 bands of orange-brown: one covering the rib bordering the suture, and two much broader bands: one on the periphery and one covering the whole siphonal area of the shell. In these orange-brown bands a pattern of cream spots. In the aperture, the outer color shines through.

This species resembles most closely M. strongae n. sp., but can be distinguished at once by the much smaller size and the flattened spiral cords. These spiral cords are beaded and split into two in M. strongae n. sp. The flattened spiral cords also distinguish M. kilburni from M. boucheti which can be also quite dark colored and of a similar size. This South African shells have been confused with Mitra gonatophora Slurany. 1903 which is found at depths from 167 to 800 meters in the Red Sea. The lectotype of this species was located by Turner 1989) at the Natural History Museum in Vienna. The lectotype appears to be stained uniformly brown with beaded cords with a chalky-white columella callus shield and aperture. There are three razor-thin columella folds exposed on the columella. The large chalky-white callus pad is not typical of Mitrid species nor are the razor-thin columella lolds.The protoconch of the lectotype is missing but the type hgure shows 3 large, round, globular-shaped, glassy whorls. The brown color pattern, shape and sculpture of this shell are distinctly different from that of M. kilburni n. sp.

TYPE LOCALITY
The Philippines. Siquijor. San Juan.
DISTRIBUTION AND HABITAT
The holotype has been collected by the first author at a depth of 62 m. a little oil shore from San Juan. Tubod. The paratype came from fisherman of Aliguay Island who usually fish between 50 and 150 m deep. The paratypes from the Salisbury & Wolff collections have been taken in Balicasag Island. Apart from the Philippines, the species is known from South Africa. The third author (Salisbury) also studied materiel from the Solomon Islands. As a conclusion: this is a widespread Indo-Pacific species known from South Africa, the Philippines and the Solomon Islands. It lives between about 60 and 150 m deep.