The adult is a very colorful moth with a wingspan of 1 1/8 – 1 5/8 inches. It is bright yellow with many brown spots and blotches. The female is larger than the male. It rests with the wings spread straight out to the sides which is typical of the family. The False Crocus Geometer is considered by the experts at BugGuide to be inseparable from Crocus Geometer (X. sospeta) from photographs and believe they can be identified only by genitalic examination. For the present, all Crocus moths will be included as False Crocus Geometer.
This is a common moth in summer. It sometimes comes to lights at night and can be seen sitting on the walls of buildings in the morning.
The larvae of the genus mimic twigs and are known as inchworms. They are missing the middle pair of prolegs so they move by looping rather than crawling. The body is elongate and thin and can be either pale green or brown. It has a white stripe along the length of the body which becomes more pronounced towards the rear. They feed on low-growing plants such as catnip, ground-ivy, goldenrods and dogwoods. The larvae over winter as middle to late instars.
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