The forewings are pale golden brown, and rather distinctly marked with several small patches of darker, purplish scales.

Adults are on wing from early March to mid-April in one generation per year.

The mine starts as a linear or slightly curved passage to the leaf margin.

Full-grown larvae leave the mine through a slit in the upper leaf epidermis and drop to the ground.

They then burrow into the litter beneath the host plant and form a whitish silken cocoon covered with darker soil particles.