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A medium-size (3.5-3.8 cm wingspan) rusty orange moth with darker lines and bands. The hindwing is pale yellow with a dark discal crescent and a wide dark blackish brown margin and pale fringe. P. adela is very similar and may also occur in southern Alberta. It is less contrasting (has fewer and less prominent dark markings), and has a less well-defined terminal band on the hindwing which is a dull red or crimson, not blackish. Formerly treated as a subspecies of the Palearctic P. umbra, but now recognized as being one of two similar Holarctic species.

AAdults are nocturnal and come to light. Like other species of the genus, they apparently use a wide range of hosts, and prefer the buds, flowers and developing seeds, although they will also eat foliage. They may be at least partially double-brooded, with adults appearing in May, and again in late July and August.

No Alberta data. Elsewhere reported from Polygonum, Desmodium, walnut, Delphinium sp., Balsam poplar, Trembling aspen, willow, plum, rose, sweetfern, and others. Also reported as a pest on Delphinium in the Ottawa area.