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An attractive-looking, medium-sized to small moth with long forewings and a wingspan of 21 mm or larger. The forewing has a whitish ground color. It is crossed by two basal, fuscous, transverse bars, a central area which is white with a dusting of black scales, and by four fuscous bars near the apex. The hindwing has an inner row of five black spots while the distal part is white with three black markings. The males are smaller than the females. Rather similar to Petrophila jaliscalis and P. confusalis, which should be watched for in southernmost Alberta, but differ by having the white distal part of the hindwing finely dusted with black scales and one, rather than two, fuscous, transverse bars near the base of the forewing. Munroe (1972) called the genus Parargyractis rather than Petrophila. Formerly placed in the Pyralidae, subfamily Nymphulinae, but recently considered to be in the Family Crambidae, subfamily Acentropinae.

Munroe (1972) does not comment specifically on Petrophila kearfottalis, but mentions that the larvae of several other species of the genus are aquatic, live on rocks, feed on algae and that, when fully grown, have blood gills.