Type locality: Art Island, New Caledonia.
Range: New Caledonia and westwards vicinity. Along the central Queensland coast and mainly on the offshore reefs. Habitat: In shallow waters under stones on sandy bottom.

Description: Shell is small, stocky, light, measuring up to 40 mm long. Protoconch is small, rounded, purple in colour, 0.7 mm in diameter. Spire is short. Teleoconch of five and a half whorls, the last one very swollen. Sculpture is of 20-24 axial ribs crenelating the suture on the early whorls, the two last whorls being smooth. Aperture is large, semiovate forming 0.76 of the total length. Outer lip is slightly thickened. Columella with three distinct plaits, followed posteriorly by fine striations ended in some specimens by a low denticle. Siphonal notch is narrow and shallow. Background colour is variable: orange, cream, grey, blackish, marked by wine-coloured, subsutural markings and stains of the same colour on the middle and the anterior part of the body whorl, which is covered by fine spiral row of tiny dashes. A common species. Colouration depends on the bottom: In New Caledonia for instance, golden specimens are found at Port Boise on white sand whereas blackish ones are from Baie des Citrons on dark sand and rubble. Australian specimens are usually smaller with a more elongate shape.

Comparison: Lyria (L.) cassidula from Japan is the closest relative. It only differs with in colouration and the presence of axial ribs on the body whorl (see below).
L. (L.) insignita from Kermadec Island has the same shape and a similar
pattern but it bears more numerous and sharply cut axial ribs.
Animal: Foot and head are white-grey mottled with reddish irregular dashes. Radula is uniserial with tricuspid teeth (Fischer, 1867)
Remarks:

TYPE: Holotype, Muséum d'Histoire Naturelle, Bordeaux, No. 151/11.88. TYPE LOCALITY: Île Art, New Caledonia. RANGE: Known only from the waters surrounding New Caledonia. HABITAT: Live specimens are found crawling in about 1 fathom on coarse algae which grows in coral sand pockets (Tourrés, in litt.). DIMENSIONS: Adult specimens are 26 to 36 mm in length. SHELL DESCRIPTION: Shell is rather small for the genus. It is ovate and light in weight, with a relatively low spire, blunt at the apex. Protoconch is purple, turbinate, of one and a half smooth whorls. Teleoconch has six whorls; the early ones are longitudinally ribbed. These ribs disappear on the adult body whorl. Spiral striae are present above the an- terior tip. Suture is puckered. Aperture is wide; outer lip slightly thickened. Siphonal notch is narrow and shallow; fasciole present. Columella is almost straight, with three rather strong plaits at the anterior end followed posteriorly by numerous fine lirae covering three fourths of the colu mella. A weak columellar callus appears at the posterior end. Base color is flesh-pink or pinkish-brown, overlaid with red- dish spots and revolving, interrupted parallel lines of the same color. The adult body whorl has two broad revolving zones of pale brown. ANIMAL AND RADULA: According to Fischer (1867), the animal is typically volutoid with a short, wide, flat head. Deeply set eyes are situated at the base of triangular tentacles, behind which are two equal, triangular lobes. Radula is uniserial with tricuspid teeth. A horny operculum is present. REMARKS: The relatively rare nominate species differs from Lyria deliciosa howensis Iredale, 1937 by its consistently lower spire and swollen body whorl, which contrasts with the very attenuated shape of howensis.