It is a showy butterfly, with wings of light brown tinted with iridescent blue, and two long tails extending from the hindwings.

It lays white or yellow eggs, singly or in small clusters, which hatch into a caterpillar with a yellowish body and large, dark head.

[3] The caterpillar of this skipper is a common pest of crops, especially beans, in the southern United States.

Natural enemies of this species include wasp and fly parasitoids, and the Florida predatory stink bug, (Euthyrhynchus floridanus).

[3] U. p. domingo flies in the Bahamas and throughout the West Indies, but it is only weakly differentiated from the nominate form, chiefly by its reduced white markings.