Within its superfamily, it is placed within the subfamily Oecophorinae of the "concealer moth" family, Oecophoridae.

It is to some extent synanthropic, being regularly found around traditional farms.

But apparently, this species is not able to tolerate industrial agriculture well: it has been declining across its range during the 20th century, and it is nowadays entirely extinct in the United Kingdom, where it used to be common in past times, but has not been seen since about 1950.

Its overall coloration is a dark and somewhat metallic slate grey, with two large pale yellow markings on each forewing.Meyrick describes it - Forewings dark fuscous; a transverse ochreous-yellow tornal spot, and a smaller one on costa beyond it.

The caterpillars feed on seeds and other dry plantstuffs such as dried fruit; they have also been recorded in chicken (Gallus gallus) nests.