It is an aposematic moth because it is distinguished by its colors as toxic to predators like birds and lizards. If attacked it emits a liquid containing cyanide. The adults fly on hot, sunny days from June to August, and are attracted to a wide variety of flowers such as knapweed and scabious, as well as the larval food plants Lotus corniculatus, Dorycnium, Coronilla, Trifolium.
The species overwinters as a larva. The larva pupates in early summer in a papery cocoon attached to a grass stem.
1943