Shell of medium size for subfamily (3 species to 101,110 and 179 mm SL), broadly to narrowly fusiform, with cylindrical protoconchs, convex whorls and moderate to high spires; teleoconch sculpture of coarse to fine spiral cords and threads and low axial ribs, latter being absent in one species; outer lip convex; (usually) paired lirae on inside of outer lip correspond to paired spiral threads and grooves on outer surface of body whorl, inner lirae and outer threads and grooves intersecting to form (usually) bifid denticles on crenulated edge of outer lip; parietal ridge elevated, keellike, prominent, sometimes accompanied by 1-3 smaller parallel ridges; columellar folds weak, entrance fold to siphonal canal weakly to rather strongly developed, keellike; inner side of siphonal canal without abapical folds. Radula of type species described and figured by Troschel (1868: 63, pl. 5 fig. 16; as Fasciolaria badia Krauss, 1848, a synonym) and Barnard (1959: 76, fig. 19a, b).

Shells of the type species, L lugubris, occur with or without slightly angled or shouldered whorls, produced by the presence or absence of a larger cord at the whorl periphery. Shells of each condition are shown in figures by Marais & Kilburn (2011:110). Both Reeve's figured specimen and the specimen originally figured as Fasciolaria badia Krauss (1848: pl. 6 fig. 12), a synonym, have the shouldered condition, which may thus be considered typical.
Marais & Kilburn (2011:110) labeled their shouldered shell as showing characters intermediate between "Fasciolaria lugubris lugubris and Fasciolaria lugubris heynemanni," but we reject the implied relationship and classify the two species in separate genera. Among other characters, Lugubrilaria shells lack the row of welldeveloped nodes on the shoulder that characterize all species of Kilburnia; the entire surface of Lugubrilaria shells is covered with densely packed coarse to fine spiral cords and threads, whereas the surface of Kilburnia shells has relatively few low, broad spiral ridges which may be virtually obsolete in some populations. The outer lip of Kilburnia has a marked angle at the periphery, a consequence of the peripheral nodes, but the outer lip of Lugubrilaria is only slightly inflected by the corresponding peripheral cord, and even that cord is often absent.
Species of Lugubrilaria are distinguished from those of Africolaria by the lirate sculpture on the inner side of the outer lip, the paired series of cords and threads on the shell outer surface, and the resultant crenulations where cords and grooves meet on the outer lip. Lugubrilaria shells also have tough, relatively thick and dark periostracum which commonly persists on adult shells.

The Recent species of Lugubrilaria have limited ranges along the southwestern coast of Africa. Lugubrilaria lugubris is known with confidence from Cape Agulhas in the southern Indian Ocean around the Cape of Good Hope and northward to the vicinity of St. Helena Bay, South Africa. More northern records of L. lugubris from along the western coast of South Africa and Oranjemund at the southern Namibian border (Richards, 1988: 35; Steyn & Lussi, 1998:124) need confirmation.