The adult E. melanoleuca is a small, dark grey, moth with short, broad wings giving it a triangular outline.

The male has a whitish margin to both pairs of wings, while the female has slatey-grey forewings and dark grey hindwings.

[1] The larvae are at first campodeiform, having a long flattened body, legs and antennae, but the later instars are fleshy and ellipsoidal; they are concealed by the white waxy filaments they secrete.

On hatching, the moth larvae attach themselves with their prolegs to the edge of a leaf and hold themselves erect, questing for a suitable host.

When one is found, they attach themselves to the planthopper nymph with hooked claws, pierce the cuticle with their mouthparts and suck out the hemolymph.