It is used as an agent of biological pest control against the noxious aquatic plant known as alligator weed (Alternanthera philoxeroides).

The adult moth is brown and an elongated arrowhead shape about 13 millimeters long.

The female lays between 200 and 300 white eggs during her week-long adult life.

The larva is white when first emerged from its egg and quickly turns brown and striped.

It pupates in a cocoon inside the hollowed-out stem for ten days.