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Field Guide Descriptions: Beadle and Leckie (2012); Leckie and Beadle, 2018; Covell (1984) | Online Photographs: MPG, BugGuide, iNaturalist, Google, BAMONA, GBIF, BOLD | Technical Description, Adults: Clarke (1941); Hodges (1974) | |
| Adult Markings: This is a colorful and easily recognizable species with pronounced labial palps and a well-defined brown saddle behind the yellowish-brown thorax. The detailed description that follows is based in part on that of Clarke (1941). The head is pale to golden-yellow and the thorax yellowish brown. The second segment of the labial palp is blackish fuscous, while the terminal segment and antenna are banded black and white. The ground color of the forewing is pale to golden-yellow with rich brown markings. At the wing base there is a large broad brown band that is margined on both sides with a silvery white stripe with narrow black margins. The band and stripes extend from the inner margin across most of the wing before terminating before reaching the costa. A second broad band extends from the inner margin near the tornus and terminates about mid-way. This band is margined on all three sides with a silvery white stripe (sometimes partially lead colored) that is narrowly edged with black scales. The band and adjoining areas of the fringe are sometimes dusted with blackish scales. An outwardly oblique postmedian silvery bar extends from the costa to about one-half the distance across the wing. The cilia are golden-yellow except for a small area before the tornus which is fuscous. The termen usually has a narrow dusting of silvery white or lead-colored scales and a broader zone of rufous and blackish scales. The hindwing and cilia are fuscous. The fore and middle legs are chiefly black and white, while the hind leg is lighter. The abdomen is fuscous. |
| Wingspan: 10-13 mm (Clarke, 1941) |
| Adult Structural Features: Clarke (1941) has detailed descriptions and illustrations of the male and female genitalia. |
| Adult ID Requirements: Identifiable from good quality photos of unworn specimens. |
| Immatures and Development: The larvae appear to be either detritivores and/or fungivores that feed beneath the decaying bark of hardwoods, but details about their life history are not available. Blackman and Stage (1918) reared an adult from limbs of a dead American Larch (Larix laricina). |