[3] Chilo phragmitella occurs in wetland habitats with reed beds and paddy fields, and can be found in much of Europe, including Great-Britain, and parts of Asia.

[5] Francis Hemming, in his 1937 systematic treatment[a] of the entomological works of Jacob Hübner, narrowed the range of years in which the description of Tinea phragmitella may have been published to 1805–1810.

[7] The following description of Chilo phragmitella was published in Edward Meyrick's 1895 A Handbook of British Lepidoptera:[15] The face with a conical horny projection.

Forewings in female much narrower and more acute than in male; pale ochreous, more or less suffused with brown, especially in male, tending to form dark streaks on and between veins; a dark fuscous discal dot; termen sinuate.

Hindwings are pale whitish-ochreous or whitish, The larva is ochreous -whitish; dorsal, subdorsal, and lateral lines reddish -brown; head and plate of 2 yellowish -brown.See also Parsons et al. [16]