The lesser rice-leafroller adult is a pale beige coloured moth with three brown broken stripes across the forewings and two stripes across the hindwings. The outer third of the wings is darker in colour. The abdomen is a creamy colour with a darker brown band near the tip. The caterpillar rolls up a leaf to shelter in during the day. At maturity, the caterpillar pupates in a folded leaf of the food plant.