Test of male white, thick, felted, oval, and convex; length, about 1/16in. Fringe as in the female.
Adult female dark-brown, sometimes almost black; slightly elongated, convex, affecting almost altogether the twigs and branches in preference to the leaves. Average length, about 1/9in. Antennæ of seven joints: on the last joint some hairs. Feet with the tibia about half as long as the tarsus (see note above, under the genus). On the edge of the body is a row of conspicuous spines, subcylindrical or subconical, with tubercular bases; and on the dorsum, in some specimens, may be seen a few others on the median region.
Female of second stage brown, elongated-elliptical, slightly convex. Antennæ six-jointed. Marginal spines as in the adult, but no dorsal spines. Length, about 1/25in.
Larva red, flattish, elliptical; marginal spines as in adult, conspicuous. Antennæ of five joints. Abdominal lobes large.
Adult male brown, rather more slender than in E. hispidus. Antennæ of ten joints, all hairy; the second joint much thicker than the rest. The last three joints are not so globular as in E. hispidus. On the last five joints are several knobbed hairs. Feet slender, hairy; digitules fine hairs. Abdominal spike shortish, broad: at each side of the base a tubercle bearing a pair of longish setæ enclosed in a long filament of white cotton. Eyes four; ocelli two. Length of body, exclusive of spike, about 1/25in.
Habitat—On Atherosperma Novæ-Zælandiæ, Melicope ternata, Elæocarpus dentatus, Wellington; Muhlenbeckia adspersa, Sumner Road, Lyttelton; Port Hills, Christchurch; and Wellington.
Distinguished from E. hispidus by the feather-like segments of the fringe, and by the almost complete absence of dorsal spines on the female. The male is apparently almost identical.
N.Z. Trans., Vol. XVI., 1883, p. 128.