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A small to medium sized whitish moth (13-18 mm wingspan) with semi-transparent wings. Forewings white to light grey, costa and veins brownish; hindwings white. Somewhat similar in appearance to small caddisflies (Trichoptera) and first described as such, rather than as a moth. The females are usually wingless. Formerly called Acentria nivea (Olivier) and referred to as such in Hodges et al. (1983). Easily distinguished as there is no other moth like it in Alberta.

Originally thought to be a native species (Monroe 1947), especially as it is widespread and the females have rudimentary wings, but recent authors feel that this is an introduced European species. It was first reported in North America from Montreal in 1927 (Sheppard 1945) and by 1996 was well established in the Great Lakes area and Ohio by 1996 (Scholtens & Balogh (1996). The first Alberta collection was made in 1995 by Ernest Mengersen at Olds. Reported from numerous locations in the Aspen Parkland and Prairies of Alberta by Pohl et al. (2005) but it is also known from the southern part of the Boreal Forest.