[4] T. intermedia primarily lives within the United States in the Southwest and Great Plains.

However, it also has managed to maintain populations in the Southeast, including Florida, Georgia, and Virginia.

[1] The latest research suggests that T. intermedia originated from the Southwestern region of the United States, approximately located in present New Mexico.

The sister species to T. intermedia, Tegeticula cassandra, also exhibits cheating behavior in pollination and is restricted to the Southeastern United States.

[4] T. intermedia has been found to reside in a diverse array of environments including shrub deserts, coastal dunes, prairies, forests (pine and oak), and glades.

[6] Larvae feed on a variety of plants within the yucca genus, depending on the region of the population.

The larvae of T. intermedia superficially crawl towards the ovary so they can burrow past the wall and commence feeding upon the developing seeds.

[8] T. intermedia is unique in that it will superficially oviposit eggs one at a time so as to deceive the yucca plant.

During early instars the larvae feed inside the fruit on the developing seeds.

Later in their development, the matured instars leave the fruit, preferably after a rainstorm or during wet conditions to make escape easier.

The fore wings can occasionally have a slight tan color, but the body of the moth is predominately white.

Female moths have special tentacles as mouth parts (although it does not eat as an adult) which it uses to scrape pollen from a yucca anther into a relatively large, sticky ball that can be as big as 10% of her body mass.

It has evolved to superficially oviposit to avoid detection by the yucca that would allow it to lay many eggs without inducing flower abortion.

It enjoys the benefits of reproducing without the costs of aiding yucca reproduction at the expense of the host.