The Common Evening Brown is known to feed on padi. However, the food plant is likely to be substituted with another monocotyledon (possibly bamboo) here in Singapore, where padi is not grown.

The upperside is dark brown with a black subapical patch bearing two white spots and inwardly shaded with orange brown. The very variable underside is buff or grey, with fine dark brown striations. A submarginal row of yellow-ringed ocelli are usually found in the typical example. The variations in the undersides seem to be related to the wet and dry seasons in the region. The butterflies usually fly at dawn and shortly before dusk and are not normally seen during the day, except when disturbed.