Wingspan 10 to 12 mm.

Where bracken is present and perhaps preferring sheltered sunny sites.

A single-brooded species, flying in July, and sometimes coming to light.

The colourful larva feeds May - June in a slight gall in the main stem of bracken, often withering an adjacent side stem.

Widespread in England and Wales in areas where its foodplant, bracken occurs. In the Butterfly Conservation's Microlepidoptera Report 2011 this species was classified as local.

Rare in Leicestershire and Rutland. The Pickworth Great Wood specimen of 20 July 2013 was the first record for VC55. L&R Moth Group status = D (rare or rarely recorded).