Upperside brown with orange spot on hindwing near tails. Outer edge of forewing usually has row of orange spots. Underside brown-gray with orange submarginal crescents and a postmedian band of black spots. Females lay eggs, glued together in groups of 2-4, in bark crevices. Eggs hibernate until the following spring.
Caterpillars eat leaves.
One flight from May-August. Nectar from flowers of wild buckwheat, milkweed, sulphur flower, and others. Chaparral, brushland, forest edges, open woodland. G4 - Apparently secure globally, though it might be quite rare in parts of its range, especially at the periphery. Butterflies of Baja California.