Forewing ground colour greyish; some dark brown dots before and beyond the middle of the wing, formed by raised scales; 2 such dots on the thorax.

Light green; head capsule and prothoracic plate green.

A tough cocoon incorporating dead leaves spun together with yellowish silk.

The egg is oviposited on a twig or leaf of the larval hostplant.
The first instars are not known, but the later ones hide under a loosely spun silken web on the underside of a leaf. The caterpillar feeds at night, first on the tip of the leaf and afterwards it moves to another leaf to spin again a web. The spinnings are spun mainly transversely across the leaf, so as to bend the leaf margins slightly downwards, leaving an opening in front and behind through which the larva drops quickly to the ground by the slightest disturbance. Mainly it lives close to the ground, and in any case under 1 m, are preferred, as are single growing bushes of Prunus spinosa. The larval stage extends from early August to the end of September.
The last instar constructs a tough cocoon on the ground in which the pupa hibernates from September till June.
The adults are rarely seen during daytime. They can be distrubed from hedgerows and come sparsely to light.

Monophagous on Prunus spinosa.

Open places in forests and mixed hedgerows in which Prunus spinosa are thinly present. Blackthorn tickets are avoided.