A relatively infrequently encountered member of the smaller oak-feeding Catocala species as a larva. Typically with a grayish ground color, and with the white bump/tubercle on A5 smaller than in micronympha. The large white chevron on the head capsule near the vertex covers substantially more area than in micronympha and there is also more extensive white above the mandibles than in that species. Body size and coloration of minuta can approach connubialis, but head capsule of minuta lacking white chevrons and with substantial darkening behind the vertex toward T1 and two prominent dark dots on facial lobes. Wild larvae of connubialis are recorded from several Quercus species, and at least in southern New England, habitats associated with the adults hint at a possible preference for the red oak subgenus Quercus (Erythrobalanus).