The species was first described by Johann Siegfried Hufnagel in 1766 and is found in most of the Palearctic realm from Ireland east to Siberia.

Its forewings are grey white; a bifurcate black streak from base below cell; lines indistinct, pale with dotted edges; stigmata grey with partial black outlines and paler rings; the lower lobe of the reniform orange tinged; claviform sometimes connected by a black streak with outer line, and often a dark spot between the stigmata; submarginal line waved, white, preceded by dark marks; hindwing grey; the whiter forms are separated as ab.

[1] Adults are on wing from late August to November and, after overwintering, again from the end of February to mid-May.

The larvae feed on various deciduous trees, but mainly oak (Quercus species) and can be found from April to June.

[2] It is mainly found at the edges of forest and meadow habitats as well as in heathlands and park landscapes.