Family DRILLIIDAE Olsson, 1964

Diagnosis. Shell small to medium-sized, more or less claviform with an elevated spire and short base, siphonal canal short; anal sinus on shoulder slope, shallow to deep, often constricted by a parietal pad, usually with a stromboid notch; often a varix on last 0.6 whorl. Protoconch usually domed or papilliform, of ca 1.5–3.5 whorls, usually smooth, sometimes with a median keel, sometimes with preterminal axial riblets. Operculum with a terminal nucleus.

Radula. Subradular membrane strong, five teeth per row. Central tooth small (sometimes absent), with a median cusp and often with side denticles. Lateral teeth more or less wide, arched and pectinate. Marginal teeth varying from flattened scalpel-like plates, sometimes with a weak accessory limb, to hollow, enrolled hypodermic teeth (Bouchet et al. 2011).