Length 12 to 17 mm. A medium to large sized caddis fly with marbled brown and cream wings, although the patterning varies between male and female in this species. The forewings have a notched outer margin.

Still water habitats, ponds and lakes, often in woodland or well wooded areas.

Late April to June and August to October with a summer diapause.

This species breeds around still water such as ponds and lakes in which the larvae will build a case with pieces of dead leaves. The jelly coated egg mass, commonly known as "tree snot", is stuck to a leaf above the surface of the water, and when the eggs are ready to hatch they fall into the water beneath. The only other British species with a similar egg mass is Nemotaulius punctatolineatus which is restricted to Highland blanket bogs (Wallace, I. (2003) The beginner’s guide to caddis (order Trichoptera). Bulletin of the Amateur Entomologists' Society, 62, 15-26). 

Fairly frequent and widespread in Britain, though less common in Scotland.

Fairly frequent in Leicestershire and Rutland.