The forewings are gray to tan, crossed by irregular dark bands.

Comstock often used this silver-spotted ghost moth in his publications on Lepidopteran wings and their venation with at least one case of it being reproduced on his title page (e.g. Frontice).

The figures of the Hepialid moths and their wing venation illustrating the Comstock publications on wings were from his sometimes co-author Anna Botsford Comstock.

Food plants for this species include Alnus, Betula, and Salix.

They bore in roots of their host plant that are partially submerged in water.