In the laboratory, moth larvae emerged from the fruit galls within 4-20 d after the removal of the galls from the plant. They consumed the entire contents of the fruit galls before leaving. The larvae are approximately 6 mm long by 1.1 mm wide. Larvae were active for 3-10 d before beginning pupation. Larvae pupated in a whitish cocoon.
Females have black and glittery gold wing markings while males have pale, translucent wings.
Adult moths in the laboratory did not feed on a nectar solution nor on fresh flowers with nectar. Wasp pupation lasted approximately 20 d. The moth life-cycle is highly synchronized with the flowering phenology of its host plant, Ardisia escallonioides. The bivoltine life-cycle permits moths to locate both early and late flowering plants. Moths that attack later flowering plants undergo diapause and do not emerge until the following summer, an adaptive response given the strong seasonal flowering of the host plant.