This species is endemic to New Zealand and can be found throughout the North and in the upper parts of the South Islands.

This species was first described by Francis Walker in 1863 using a specimen collected in Auckland by Daniel Bolton and originally named Cerostoma terminella.

[6] George Hudson discussed and illustrated this species in his 1928 book The butterflies and moths of New Zealand under that name.

Rest of body plate straw colour, darker beneath, with intestinal canal showing black; skin transversely wrinkled; a distinct lateral ridge.

[8]This larva is similar in general appearance to that of Erechthias hemiclistra but is smaller and has a darker coloured median line.

[7] The larvae of E. terminella feed under a web of silk and frass on the seeds as well as possibly the pods of Phormium tenax.