Similar to Drymonia ruficornis, but the forewings are generally whiter; the crosslines are less straight, and there is no black crescent above the centre of the wings.

albida Rebel belongs to trimacula [synonym]; the whole median area of the forewing is uniformly white apart from the two bands.

— In the southern dodonaea districts predominates a uniformly darker coloured and usually somewhat smaller form, dodonaea Hbn [sensu stricto], ground-colour blackish grey-brown, only the outer half of the median area forming a white band, which is traversed by a blackish line accompanying the outer dark band.

(45 e),[ now full species Drymonia dodonides (Staudinger, 1887)] likewise differs from dodonaea in the uniformly darker colouring; moreover, the outer transverse band and the proximal edge of the inner one are essentially more deeply dentate.

After mating, the female lays 150 – 200 eggs in small groups on the underside of oak leaves, which hatch after eight to ten days.

When the larva is fully grown in August – September, it crawls down on the ground, spinning an oval, earthy cocoon and transforming into a pupa which overwinters.