The male is pale yellow coloured and the female has severely reduced wings and is flightless.

The habitat of this species is tussock grasslands on coastal sand dunes and in the mountains at elevations of approximately 4,000 ft.

The larvae have adapted to feeding on exotic lawn daisy species in the genus Bellis.

[3] George Hudson discussed and illustrated this species under the name Xanthorhoe oraria in his 1928 publication The Butterflies and Moths of New Zealand.

[9][8] It has been hypothesised that the native hosts of the larvae of this species are forest floor, wetland, coastal and inter-tussock herbs.