The larva is cream colored with a reddish brown head, while the pupa is yellowish white with a tinge of green turning dark brown before emergence. The pupal stage occurs inside rice stems, often below the soil surface. The female moth has black spots on its light brown wings and a wide abdomen, while the male is smaller with two rows of black spots and a slender abdomen. The yellow rice stem borer is a pest of deepwater rice found in continuously flooded fields.