Adrian Hardy Haworth gave the moth the specific name flavicaput in 1828, from ″flavus″ – yellow and ″caput″ – the head, which describes the adult.

Palpi yellow, basal half blackish, terminal joint very short.

Adults are diurnal, i.e. flying in the morning from May to June, around the larval food plant.

The twigs are the thickness of a knitting needle and larvae start boring into the pith at a fork towards the tip.

At the other end of the mine, the larva makes a broader section in the gallery which can partly enter the main twig and pupation takes place there before winter.