Shell oblong-biconic (b/1 0,42-0,47, a/1 0,48-0,53) with a moderately produced, rather strongly tapering but broad base, and sharp, orthoconoid to slightly cyrtoconoid spire; teleoconch whorls usually 3,5 or fewer (rarely up to 4,5 in number); suture fairly deep, not distinctly channelled, but rather regularly undulating, whorl profile convex with periphery situated at or above midwhorl, forming a distinct but rounded shoulder below suture; subsutural region evenly convex, without trace of ridge or bordering concavity; siphonal canal fairly short, rather straight, more or less linear and narrow, differentiated from aperture by a slight bend near base of outer lip, termination truncate, slightly to strongly oblique, not or shallowly indented; left side of base straight or shallowly concave, fasciole weak to moderate. Aperture narrow, rather linear and somewhat straight, tapering slightly at each end, curved to right posteriorly, widest near median, outer lip barely effuse anteriorly; columella fairly long and rather straight, curving very gently at junction with paries; labial callus very thin, its face more or less flat, its outer margin not free on columella, smooth except for a low parietal pad; prelabral varix thick, with rather steep trailing face; edge of outer lip somewhat incurved, interior smooth or with up to 12 weak denticles, of which the posterior one is the strongest; lip convex in side-view, anal sinus subsutural, moderately shallow and asymmetrically U-shaped with slightly constricted opening, stromboid notch shallow but distinct. Sculptured by narrow, rather close axial ribs, not regularly continuous from whorl to whorl, crossed by alternately finer and stronger spiral lirae; entire surface traversed by microscopic, dense collabral threads, rendering the edges of the main spirals weakly serrulated, and the finer ones granular; sutural border not microsquamulose. Axial ribs more or less equal in width to their intervals; slightly compressed, their crests angularly and slightly asymmetrically rounded in t/s; orientation rather strongly opisthocline, slightly arcuate on spire, strongly so on body whorl, slightly procurved just below suture, extending from suture to suture and on body whorl continuing well onto rostrum but becoming weaker behind lip; 11-14 axial ribs per whorl. Main spiral lirae tabulate where they cross interstices, with well-raised, sharply incised edges, becoming close, low and gently rounded where they cross axials; more or less wider than intervals, each of which bears a thin, granulose thread (which may strengthen to first-order size with growth), main spirals closer below suture, on rostrum coarse, close, rounded and rendered nodulose by terminations of axial ribs; interstices rather deep, almost fenestrate on base; 4 - 6 spirals on 1st whorl, penultimate whorl with 12-16 in total, base of body whorl with approximately 19-25 lirae.
Ground colour buff to white, with two types of colour pattern: typically with a more or less faint orange-brown band below suture (often broken into spots, or only visible dorsally), dorsal surface of body whorl with a faint median band of orange-brown, terminating in a more or less conspicuous spot behind varix, and a third faint band around base; 2nd colour form with more or less conspicuous orange-brown spiral lines (1-2 on spire whorls, 5-7 on body whorl), usually also with spots of this colour on ribs below suture; apex sometimes tinged with light orange, aperture white. Protoconch conical, of about 3,5 whorls, initially smooth, last two whorls with thin, arcuate, opisthocline riblets, extending from suture to suture, and numbering 19-22 on last whorl; under SEM (Fig. 72) crests of ribs are seen to bear very short transverse plicae; breadth 0,45-0,55 mm, height 0,48-0,53 mm (b/h 1,04-1,10). Dimensions: 5,7 x 2,4 mm (lectotype of brunneolineata); 4,5 x 2,1 mm (Zululand example); 3,4 x 1,5 mm (Riambel, Mauritius).

New Caledonia to the Gulf of Aden and south to northern Zululand.