Holotype: Shell of moderate size for the genus; pale flesh colored with irregular brown mottling on the shoulder and faint axial markings of brown across the body whorl, surface glossy; aperture about 1/3 the length of the shell, suture deeply impressed, immediate subsutural area inflated. Protoconch whorls 2, first whorl bulbous with a lateral tip, second whorl with a low carination; postnuclear whorls 10. Axial ribbing broad and low, scarcely perceptible; on early whorls the shoulder is concave and the axial ribs nodulous on the lower half of the whorl; on later whorls the shoulder is inflated. Spiral sculpture of broadly spaced grooves, 1 delimiting the shoulder, 3 additional on the final whorl and 3 closely spaced, deeply incised grooves on the pillar; back of last whorl with some backward slanting crinkles especially strong at the periphery and behind the stromboid notch. Sinus deep, U-shaped, bordered by curved parietal callus on the inside; lip edge nearly straight, stromboid notch well marked, anterior canal short, deeply notched; parietal callus broad, inner lip not markedly raised. Height, 26.1, diameter, 8.7 mm.

Elaeocyma melichroa differs from the Galapagan species E. amplinucis and E. splendidula (Sowerby, 1834) in having an inflated shoulder in mature specimens and less pronounced axial sculpture than either species. Ground color varies from nearly white to tan.

Type Locality: North of Hood (Española) Island, Galápagos Island, Ecuador. also: San Salvador Island. Santa Cruz Island.