[2][3] It is best known for its use in biological control of the lethally toxic poison hemlock (Conium maculatum), which is eaten by its caterpillars (larvae).

[2][3] A. alstroemeriana is a wide-ranging species native to Europe, that has more recently spread to North America, Australian and New Zealand.

[2][3] In North America, it is most common to the northeastern and northwestern United States, as well as the southern regions of Canada.

[2] Around 200 small eggs are laid by the female, and they are placed on the underside of the leaves of their host plant, Conium maculatum.

[3][4] The caterpillar may also benefit from the toxic alkaloids present in the poison hemlock host plant because they may increase the ability of A. alstroemeriana to recognize Conium maculatum as the correct location for oviposition.

Adults generally live from June to March, making A. alstroemeriana a relatively long-lived moth species.

[2] Recently, A. alstroemeriana has been predated upon by a wasp species, Euodynerus foraminatus native to the United States, which is part of the family Eumenidae of Hymenoptera.

This wasp is known for paralyzing the larvae of Lepidoptera, now including the hemlock moth, in order to feed it to its young.

[4] The use of A. alstroemeriana as a biological control method has been limited by the scarcity of information on its life history and feeding habits and the ability to harvest the larvae only in early to mid-spring.

Poison hemlock commonly overruns fields growing feed for livestock, which creates the possibility of killing the animals (through hay contamination).

However, oviposition was not correlated positively with the concentration of alkaloids in the poison hemlock, which varies widely among individual plants.

The effects that the alkaloids in Conium maculatum cause on the moth, both physiologically and behaviorally, are relatively unknown.

Preliminary research has not found any negative physiological effects caused by the high alkaloid toxicity of poison hemlock.