The species occurs on some Mediterranean islands (Balearics, Corsica, and Sardinia), in Northern Fennoscandia, and most of Europe except for southern Spain.

The range extends south from Morocco in the west to Mediterranean North Africa, through Anatolia to Turkestan and Western and Central Siberia.

The more or less significant medium shade is darker than the colour and has a strong median bulge.

The larva is reddish brown above, and greenish beneath, sometimes the upper surface is tinged with green also; the dorsum is freckled with pale brown, and the three lines along it are faintly paler, the raised dots are whitish.

The larva feeds on various deciduous trees and shrubs and in later stages also herbaceous plants.