The body is covered by regularly occurring body-colored to black bumps sporting stiff black hairs or setae. The head capsules are tan to dark brown. Adult moths are brown with darker brown patterned wings. There are a large number of species with in the noctuid family.
Females lay eggs on sorghum heads.
Caterpillars grow to about inch long and have bodies that are covered with spines or hairs, green to tan in color, and marked with four reddish-brown lengthwise stripes. Caterpillars feed on ripening grain, consuming the contents and leaving the hull intact. Development from egg to adult can be completed in 24 days. Sorghum grains with compact heads suffer more damage, and alternate hosts include Sudangrass, Johnsongrass, corn, rye, and timothy. Corn earworm eggs are pin-head sized and has characteristic ridges.