Adult shell of medium size (60 to 90 mm), solid, ovate, stout. Surface sculptured by minute revolving lirae crossing axial cords giving dull reticulated surface. Spire very low with convex whorls. Protoconch with mean diameter of 7-9 mm, dome-shaped, flattened, of 3.5 convex whorls, bearing at apex short calcarella, sculptured by closely spaced minute, radial cords. First embryonic whorl smooth. Protoconch teleoconch transition very gradual.
Suture impressed. Teleoconch of 2.5 very convex whorls with slightly curved shoulder, and subsutural zone distinctly depressed. Aperture long, narrow, forming at least 80% of the total length of shell. Outer lip smooth and simple, solid but never thickened. Columella straight with 4 thin plaits, adapical one very oblique. Siphonal notch deep. Fasciole present. Background colour cream overlain by orange-red or deep brown pattern of irregular, zigzag axial stripes, crossed by 4 spiral bands of indistinct blotches. First nuclear whorls and calcarella orange-brown, subsequent whorl cream.

-14m, On sand of pearl farm, Roebuck Bay, Broome, Australia, 70.0mm., Ex-Coll. Paul Johnson.
The « Cone-shaped Volute » is a rare and appealing volute endemic to the portion of northwest Australia between Dampier and Broome. It is a nocturnal carnivorous gastropod inhabiting sandy to rubbly bottoms of shallow water ranging from intertidal zone down to about -20m deep. Although a shallow water shell it is a seldomly seen species, live-taken specimens such as the one shown especially so. Characteristically of the genus Volutoconus, it has a sharp needle-like tip in its protoconch. Typical shell length is around 60mm., giant specimens may grow to approach 80mm.

Some small-sized specimens of V. hargreavesi possess the same stout outline, but their shiny surface without spiral lirae, smooth protoconch with a more prominent calcarella and well-defined tent-like pattern preclude any confusion.
Freshly dead shells are almost brown-black coloration but this apparently fades quickly into orange-brown after death. According to Wilson (1994), specimens from the Kimberley coast tend to have a higher spire and more fusiform outline than those from the southern end of the range.

TYPE LOCALITY
Neotype reported from Broome area (17°57' S, 122° 14' E), Western Australia, Australia.
RANGE
From north of Broome south to the Eighty Mile Beach, Western Australia.
HABITAT
Poorly defined. Probably infralittoral. Some occasional specimens with the moribund animal inside have been washed ashore after storms.