Compared to the yellow-legged tortoiseshell it has yellower interspaces between the black blotches on the costal edges of its forewings and the dark marginal band is narrower.

The adult insect (imago) over-winters in dry dark places, such as hollow trees or out buildings.

The females lay their pale green eggs (ova) in a continuous band around the upper twigs of elm (Ulmus spp.

The full-grown larva spins a silk girdle around a twig further down the tree, and hangs from this by means of hooks (cremaster) at its rear end, to pupate.

The species is univoltine, i.e. there is only one generation per year,[5] the imagines emerging in July and August seek out sources high in sugar on which to feed.

The large tortoiseshell is featured in Eon Productions' James Bond film On Her Majesty's Secret Service.

While visiting M (evidently an amateur lepidopterist) in the study at his country home, Bond remarks over M's shoulder on the small size of a Nymphalis polychloros specimen, to M's surprise at his knowledge of lepidoptery, and perhaps his skill in not misidentifying the specimen as the smaller and more common small tortoiseshell (Aglais urticae).