The immature specimens in hand are characterized by 1) elongate-ovate, slender shell not exceeding 10 mm in height (mature shells up to 23 mm), 2) protoconch low-conical of 3.25 smooth whorls, the last 2 faintly carinate, 3) cyrtoconoid spire made of gently convex whorls meeting at subcanaliculate sutures running at the end of a narrow, slightly sloping inward subsutural shelf, 4) outer lip narrowly swollen and ribbed within, with some spiny denticles at its abapical edge, 5) inner lip callused, with a variable number of obsolete tubercles and 6) earlier teleoconch whorls sculptured with collabral ribs ending in a row of subsutural nodes and crossed by faint spiral grooves; later whorls with a more or less distinct subsutural groove and occasional, exceedingly faint, widely spaced spiral striation; base with 6-9 spirals.
DISTRIBUTION AND HABITAT. The species ranges from Papua New Guinea to Thailand and China. It is an infralittoral element occurring in sandy substrates (CERNOHORSKY, 1984). FOSSIL RECORDS. Holocene of Thailand.

Shell up to 23.0 mm in length, slender elongate-ovate, body whorl long, light in weight, teleoconch of 6-6% convex whorls, protoconch of 3-3 glassy finely carinate embryonic whorls, sutures narrowly canaliculate; 2-3 post-embryonic whorls sculptured with axial ribs and obsolete spiral striae and a row of sutural nodules, later whorls smooth but occasionally with a fine subsutural groove, back of outer lip with 2-4 close-set axial ribs, base of body whorl with 4-9 spiral threads, siphonal fasciole with 5-7 oblique cords, siphonal notch prominent, anal canal deep and with a turrid-like notch in mature specimens. Aperture narrow, elongate, outer lip thickened and narrowly variced, interior with 12-17 denticles, edge of outer lip with up to 12 spinose denticles, columella narrowly calloused and laminate in mature specimens and with 1-21 denticles. Fawn in colour, body whorl sometimes with 2-3 faint, ill-defined bands, columellar callus and edge of aperture white, deep interior banded with brown. Operculum brown, serrate or irregularly jagged at margins. TYPE LOCALITY. Cagayan, Misamis, Mindanao, 46 m (micans); Malacca, Indonesia, 18 m (pallidula); Ceram I, Indonesia (unicolor). DISTRIBUTION. From Thailand to China and Papua New Guinea. Also reported in literature from the Gulf of Oman, India and Japan. In sand, subtidal to a depth of 50 m. Type specimens. The holotype of N.micans (A.Adams) No.1973141, length 15.6 mm, width 6.8 mm, and the immature holotype of Nassa pallidula A.Adams No.1973143, length 17.4 mm, width 8.9 mm, are both in the British Museum (N.H.), London. The types of N.unicolor Rousseau, could not be found in the collection of the Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris (Dr.P.Bouchet, in litt.). Material examined. THAILAND: off Karon, Phuket, 26 m (PMBC); INDONESIA: Edam Str., S. Java, 22 m; Lampang Bay, Kei-Oerne, Kai Is, 5°42'S & 105°17'E, 29 m (both ZMC); CHINA: S. of Pak Sha Tar Chan I, Tala Harbour, Hongkong, 18 m (AMS); PAPUA NEW GUINEA: Matupi, New Britain (coll. Prior). The species is similar to N.comptus (A.Adams), but is considerably lighter in weight, the body whorl is longer, sutures narrowly subcanaliculate, varix more prominent and aperture narrow and more elongate. N.micans has a different colour pattern and lacks the orange-brown axial flames of N.comptus.