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A medium-size (3.4-3.8 cm wingspan) mottled grey-brown and red-brown moth. The mottled forewing is made up of pale coppery and gray shading between areas of darker brown. The orbicular is small and round with a dark center, and stands out prominently against the background. The reniform is incompletely outlined in pale scales. The hindwings in males are dirty white or pale cream with darker scales along the veins and outer margin. Female hindwings have more extensive dark scaling than males. The lighter coppery brown areas on the forewings will help separate pleuritica from similar species such as E. pestula. Male genital characters include right harpe 1/2 length of right saccular extension, left saccular extension shorter (0.9 times) than the right one. Right saccular extension long, ½ length of valve and sacculus crescentic or slightly oval. Separated from tessellata by the flattened blade-like saccular extensions in pleuritica (cylindrical and pointed in tessellata). Females of pleuritica have apically rounded ovipositor lobes with fine setae (truncate with short conical setae in tessellata). Euxoa pleuritica belongs to the subgenus Pleonectopoda, characterized by the prominent twist or subbasal coil in the vesica of the male. There are no characters that can be used to identify females as members of the subgenus. Keys to the subgenus and species are presented in Lafontaine, 1987.

Widespread across the northern states and southern Canada, from Massachusetts to interior British Columbia, south to New Mexico and Arizona. In Alberta it has been collected north to the southern edge of the boreal forest and west to the foothills at Calgary.