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The ground colour varies from tan-yellow to dull tan. There are always three, sometimes four, evenly spaced brown dashes along the forewing costa, and a well-developed brown PM band which extends from the anal margin at least midway to the costa. Some specimens have traces of an AM and median band. The hindwing is a shade lighter, and usually has a brown median band, often also a faint AM and PM band. Sexually dimorphic, with females smaller-winged, perhaps tending towards the flightless condition as in some other Itame species. Similar to I. sulphurea and I. ribearia, but the forewing fringe is brown from the apex to about the midway point, giving the forewing a notched appearance. I. ribearia has the fringe entirely yellow, while in sulphurea the fringe is entirely brown. Hesperumia sulphuraria (southern mountains only) does not have the series of notch-shaped marks along the costa as does Itame. There are also genitalic differences, illustrated by Forbes (1948) and McGuffin (1972). Some specimens of this species were initially reported in error as I. flavicaria by Bowman (1951). I. flavicaria does not occur in Canada (McGuffin 1972).

Larvae have been reared from shrubs in the rose family including Saskatoon (Amelanchier), Shrubby Cinquefoil (Potentilla fruticosa), and currant (Ribes); also recorded from bog birch (Betula glandulosa), Bearberry (Arctostaphylus), and trembling aspen (Populus tremuloides Read More + Range Southern ON to southern BC, south to CO (McGuffin 1972). Occurs north in Alberta to the Peace River region.