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A small (3.5-3.8 cm. ws), light colored Cucullia with mottled grey, white and grey-brown forewings and pale hindwings with a narrow darker terminal band. It resembles a small, greyer C. montanae, but with the forewings more streaked and with the reniform and orbicular more sharply outlined. The much smaller size will separate it from all other Alberta Cucullia species. The valves of male montanae are broad and squared at the tip, whereas those of antipoda taper to a curved tip.

Cucullia antipoa is our smallest Cucullia, and it is unlikely to be mistaken for any of the other species. It is another our arid semi-desert moths, found only in the driest parts of our grasslands. According to Poole (1996 p. 55) populations of antipoda may exhibit a great deal of inter-and intra-population variability, including wing color, wing shape and other structural differences, often with two different morphs occur together. Cucullia antipoda was originally described from Arizona. Adults and the genitalia of both sexes are illustrated by Poole (1995).