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Adult moths are about 3/8-inch (8 to 10mm) long when at rest and have a wing spread of about 1/2 to 3/4 inch (18 to 20mm). When viewed from above with the wings folded over the back, the outer 2/3 of the wing appears reddish-brown or bronze coloured "at the wing tips" while the inner 2/3 of the wing "at the basal portion" is light grey to ochre-yellow. Also, the head and thorax are reddish-brown and the hind wings grey. The larvae or "caterpillars" are about 2/3 inch (12.5mm) when mature. Brown-headed larvae are dirty white, sometimes tinged pink or green. Larvae are quite active and moult four to seven times before pupating. Pupae are reddish-brown and about 3/8-inch long. Eggs are greyish to dirty white and from 0.3 to 0.5mm long.

Lifecycle:
The female moth lays between 60 and 300 eggs, singly or in clusters, on or near the foodstuffs. Eggs hatch in 2 to 14 days with larvae or "tiny whitish caterpillars" dispersing within a few hours. Larvae move to foodstuffs, and feed in or near a tunnel-like case of frass and silk which they web together. Some food becomes matted with silken webbing. The larval stage is the feeding or "pest stage," and may range from 2 to 41 weeks, depending on the temperature. In stored grains, feeding is done at the surface. When ready to pupate, mature larvae leave their tubes and spin a silken cocoon.

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