Shells very small for family and subfamily, averaging only 12 mm in length, broadly conical, proportionally wide across shoulder, with straight sides; body whorls generally smooth and polished, with some species having subdued ornamentation composed of low, beaded cords or slightly impressed spiral grooves; shoulders sharply angled, typically ornamented with large, prominent, rounded knobs; spires proportionally low, flattened, subpyramidal, with low, undulating knobs ornamenting spire whorls; shell colors generally white or pinkish-white with variable amounts of large red or brown patches, sometimes overlaid with rows of small brown dots; some species being predominantly solid red or brown in color; apertures proportionally wide, becoming wider toward anterior tip; protoconchs proportionally large, mammilate, rounded, composed of 2 whorls. Type Species: Conus iansa Petuch, 1979, Abrolhos Archipelago, Bahia State, Brazil.

This group of tiny cones, containing the smallest species of western Atlantic Conilithidae, is confined to southern Bahia State, the Abrolhos Archipelago area, and the seamounts off northernmost Espiritu Santo State, Brazil. The new genus most probably represents an endemic species radiation that is centered on the Abrolhos Archipelago and reef complexes, where it is most commonly encountered. Of the known conolithids, Coltroconus species most closely resemble members of the Brazilian Jaspidiconus species complex but differ in consistently having much smaller, stumpier, and more truncated shells that are proportionally wider across the shoulder; in having lower, flatter spires with sharply angled shoulders; in having prominent large rounded shoulder knobs; and in having a straight-sided profile instead of a convex one as is typically seen in Jaspidiconus.