Its discovery is attributed to English entomologist John Hartley Durrant, F.E.S., who contributed his findings of the species R. logaea and R. duplana to the Trustees of the British Museum in 1911.

The abdomen of the Elgin shoot moth is dark with ashen bands, and its legs are ashy with rusty spots on its tarsi.

[3] The Elgin shoot moth is native to Northern Europe, and while previously believed to be restricted to the coniferous forests of North-East Scotland,[4][5] observations show that it may also be found in the regions of Denmark (except for the Faroe Islands and Greenland), Estonia, Finland (except for Åland), Germany, Great Britain (in England, Scotland, and Wales, but not Northern Ireland), Latvia, Norway (except for Svalbard and Jan Mayen), the European part of Russia (to Manych lowlands), and Sweden.

Elgin shoot moths have not been observed during mating processes, but current documentation implies this takes place during April, after which eggs are laid.

R. logaea are a little-studied species of moth, knowledge of which was previously dispersed widely in scarce amounts prior to this page, primarily known for their parasitic relationship with pine trees.