[2] The caterpillar form of the orange giant-skipper has a body that is usually a greenish or bluish white with a dark brown head[3] Different from "true butterflies", skippers rest with their forewings open at a 45-degree angle and hindwings horizontal.

The orange giant-skipper survives in a dry grassland or in an open woodland habitat and has been found near mesas and mountains at 2165–2790 meters.

This bright insect can sometimes be spotted flying around agaves in Carlsbad Caverns National Park, New Mexico.

From early morning until noon the male orange-giant skipper will sit near host plants to wait for receptive females.

The eggs are a pale yellow that later turn a deep red and orange and hatch within eighteen to nineteen days.

Before it pupates, the caterpillar expands the opening of its burrow and makes a silk trap door which is where the adult can emerge out from.