Distinguished from Microlepidogaster perforatus, the only other species in this genus, by the possession of a continuous lateral line, median lateral plate series reaching, rather than falling short of, the end of the caudal peduncle, a shorter pectoral-fin spine (13.4-16.2 vs. 18.2-21.0% standard length), a smaller interorbital distance (38.9-43.1 vs. 47.7-53.3% head length), more numerous dentary teeth (16-29 vs. 12-15), the anterior margin of the snout naked (vs. the snout completely covered by plates), the preopercle not contacting the fourth postrostral plate (vs. the preopercle contacting and extending to midlength of that plate), the absence of the anterior processes of the supraneural (vs. supraneural bearing a bilateral pair of processes along its anterior margin), and the dorsal fin located more posteriorly relative to the parietosupraoccipital, where the neural spine of the tenth or eleventh vertebral centrum supports the compound supraneural plus first pterygiophore of the dorsal fin (vs. compound supraneural plus first pterygiophore supported by the neural spine of the eighth or ninth vertebra. Exhibits a remarkable suite of secondary sexually dimorphic characters, involving the presence of a conical urogenital papilla in males, the presence of a fleshy flap along the dorsal margin of first thickened pelvic-fin ray of males, longer pelvic fin in males, and a more strongly arched first pelvic-fin ray in females (Ref. 85171).