It is found in Costa Rica, where it is only known from the east slope of the Cordillera Volcanica de Guanacaste and Tilaran, and in the Sarapiqui lowlands, at elevations ranging from 40 to 1,500 meters.

The forewing dorsal ground color is a mixture of gray-brown, reddish-brown and beige-colored scales.

The larvae feed on Asterogyne martiana, Astrocaryum alatum, Calyptrogyne trichostachys, Chamaedorea pinnatifrons, Chamaedorea tepejilote, Chamaedorea warscewiczii, Cryosophila warscewiczii, Geonoma congesta, Geonoma cuneata, Geonoma ferruginea, Geonoma interrupta, Iriartea deltoidea, Prestoea decurrens and Welfia regia.

Cocoons are solitary and generally made in a fold of the palm leaf or two pinnae one on top of the other.

The species is named in honor of Ms. Jessie Hill of Hawaii and Philadelphia, and great-great-granddaughter of Ms. Jessie Barron, and in emphatic recognition of Jessie Hill's contribution to saving and inventorying the conserved Guanacaste Conservation Area forests in which Dunama jessiehillae and four other new species of Dunama reside.