Shell with b/l about 0,42, a/1 about 0,33, whorls with a weakly angulate shoulder (not spinose or prickly); subsutural region not swollen; axial ribs strong, 10 on penultimate whorl, rib behind lip varicoid; rostrum with about 6 spiral lirae, body whorl with two rows of very feeble granules at parietal level, but no vermiculate rib lets; microsculpture of pliculate growthlines and exceedingly fine spiral striae; cream with a light brown spiral band, bordered above by a broken brown line; attains 22,8 mm.
Description: Shell claviform (b/1 about 0,42, a/1 about 0,33), with relatively short, oblique base, suture shallow, each whorl rising high up its predecessor; 8 teleo-
conch whorls; each whorl with angular (but not spinose) shoulder, its periphery below median, posteriorly only slightly concave, without subsutural cord or sulcus, left side of base of body whorl concave, with moderately strong fasciole and slight false umbilicus. Aperture oblong, greatest width at posterior third, with relatively narrow, short siphonal canal, whose termination is moderately obliquely indented; columella slightly convex, parietal region concave; labial callus thick, forming a parietal pad which constricts anal sinus, labrum gently convex, with a shallow stromboid notch and rather shallow, openly and asymmetrically U-shaped anal sinus, which is somewhat adapically directed.
Sculptured by short axial ribs, rostrum with about 6 spiral lirae; a strong varicoid rib behind lip; two rows of small, very feeble granules on body whorl at parietal level (lower edge of brown zone); microsculpture of pliculate growth-lines and exceedingly fine spiral striae, visible mainly below suture. Axial ribs narrower than their intervals, opisthocline, initially suture-to-suture, but after about 3rd whorl begin to evanesce on upper half of each whorl; on body whorl ribs become obsolete at level of columella/parietal junction; crest of each rib angular, with gradually sloping sides; 7 ribs on 1st whorl, 10 on penultimate one.
Yellowish-white, with a light brown (reddish-grey in a worn paratype) spiral band below periphery of body whorl (at about level of parietal nodule), bordered posteriorly by a line of strong brown dashes (interrupted by the ribs); labium white. Dimensions: 22,8 x 9,5 mm (holotype). Protoconch, operculum, radula and soft parts unknown.

Closely allied to several Indo-Pacific Clavus spp, notably C. exasperatus (Reeve, 1843) which, however, has distinctly spinose peripheral nodules and conspicuous vermiculate axial threads below the periphery of the last whorl. C. sikesi (Preston, 1908) has fewer, stronger ribs, which project far more at the shoulder. C. pulchellus (Reeve, 1845) has stronger, less oblique axial ribs. C. paroeca (Melvill. 1923) from unknown locality (a juvenile from Brunei (NM K1486) has been received from J. Drivas), has a tumid subsutural region.

Littoral of northern Mozambique.