Body is reddish brown with a wide white band across the abdomen. Forewing upperside is reddish brown with a black cell spot and 3 white spots near the gray marginal area. A pale streak runs from the cell spot to the inner margin of the wing. Hindwing upperside is dark brown. Females lay eggs on the host plant in the late afternoon.
Young caterpillars eat new leaf growth and more mature caterpillars eat both new and older growth.
Caterpillars pupate in loose cocoons in the leaf litter. All year in the tropics and Florida. Tropical and subtropical lowlands. Paraguay north through Central America, Mexico, and the West Indies to Florida. There is one record each from New York and southern Michigan.