[1] Caterpillars are brown or reddish-brown and very hairy, with bundles of black and yellow hairs along the back.

In mid-summer, moths lay clusters of eggs on needles and small branches.

In the warmer weather, the larvae feed individually before pupating in late spring in brown cocoons attached to plants or on the forest floor.

[3] Larvae of this moth utilize numerous host plants in western North America,[4] generally conifers, and notably the Douglas fir.

[3] Lophocampa argentata is found from British Columbia to southern California, and east to Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico, Colorado, Utah, Wyoming and possibly to northern Mexico.