Upperside is bright yellow-orange with black borders and a black bar at the end of the cell.
Females are much darker than males.
Caterpillars live in shelters of rolled or tied leaves, feed on leaves, and overwinter in their fourth stage of development. After completing their growth in the spring, the caterpillars pupate in dense silk cocoons in litter at the base of the host plant. Nectar from flowers including pickerelweed. Tall-grass prairie in the Midwest, edges of coastal marshes along the Atlantic Coast. Opler, P. A. and G. O. Krizek.