This treeshrew is 16.0 to 18.5 cm long with a tail of 16.5 to 19.5 cm. The nominate race (type locality: Eastern Ghats, Madras. British Museum 50.1.21.5) has the tail coloured like the back, the ground colour above being reddish-brown while the feet and hind legs are buff or ochraceous. The other two races have the tail coloured differently from the back. The race "A. e. pallida" (type locality: Manbhum, Bengal, collected by Robert Cecil Beavan British Museum 66.12.28.2) has the colour of body above reddish-brown and the feet and hind legs grizzled buffy. Race "A. e. wroughtoni" (type locality: Mandvi, Surat, collected by R. C. Wroughton British Museum 96.11.7.1) has the colour of body above dull grizzled brownish and the feet and hind legs grizzled greyish. Some later workers lump all the three races.