The hind wings of Cisseps differ are relatively larger, more triangular, and clear in the middle portion instead of being evenly dark scaled. Cisseps also lacks the tuft on the apex of the abdomen. H. brillians ranges from California to Texas and south to Mexico. He lists the average length of egg stage as nearly eight days, larval stage 40 days, pupal stage 15 days, and length of life of the adult moth as 3.5 days. The earliest Division of Plant Industry record is February 25 at Homestead, Florida.
Winter is passed in the pupal stage.
The senior author has seen egg clusters as early as April 7 at Gainesville. Division of Plant Industry records show that larvae have been collected from May to November 14. It seems probable that some larvae appear in April. Adults are diurnal and nocturnal. Damage and Detection Initial symptoms include the appearance of brown, necrotic, skeletonized leaf tissue, resulting from young larvae eating some but not all layers of the leaf.