Many Heliodinidae raise their hindlegs when resting but this is not a taxonomic feature and several genera like Epicroesa and Lamprolophus do not show this posture.

Many Heliodinidae have the inner and outer spurs of the metatibia subequal.

The larval host plants of the majority of species are in the Aizoaceae, Chenopodiaceae, Phytolaccaceae, Portulacaceae and Nyctaginaceae, all in the Order Caryophyllales.

The larvae's feeding strategies include skeletonizing leaves (consumption of most of the leaf while leaving behind the stems), boring into leaf stems, leaf mining, and opportunistically invading cecidomyiid galls.

The pupae have long stiff hairs on their back sides.