The type to the genus is Sigaretus cancellatus Chemnitz, 1829 from Vanikoro Island in the Indonesian Archipelago in the Indopacific Ocean. Thiele (1931) and Wenz (1939) only placed members of the genus Vanikoro into the family Vanikoridae. According to the revision of Waren & Bouchet (1988) most members of the Fossaridae that were placed here in the classifications of Thiele and Wenz with the exception of the genus Fossarus should be transferred into the Vanikoridae. The difference between the type, Vanikoro cancellata, and V. semiplicata Issel, 1869 from Aqaba/Red Sea lies in the more depressed shell of the latter. Vanikoro semiplicata lives within the coral debris in the shallow water of the Gulf of Aqaba. The shell is characterized by rapidly increasing diameter of the whorls and a teleoconch-sculpture of strong axial ribs crossed by finer spiral lines. The 0.26 mm high protoconch is barrel-shaped. The embryonic shell measures 0.1 mm across and takes three-fourth whorls ornamented by a strong groove-ridge pattern. The two following whorls built during a planktotrophic larval stage bear five zigzaglike spiral ribs crossed by very fine axial threads. The protoconch is terminated by a strong sinusigera which is thickened in the upper half of the whorl.