[1] The species lays up to 2,000 eggs on the host plant during the early fall.

[1] They lay their eggs on the undersides of leaves of new fall basal growth on its host plant, St. John's Wort (Hypericum perforatum).

[2] The larvae feed for a month on the leaves, emerging at night and hiding during the day.

It was first scientifically described and named by Johann Reinhold Forster in Novæ species insectorum in the year 1771.

[2] Originally distributed in Europa and Asia, it has been introduced in other places as biological control of Hypericum perforatum.