The species is called ニッコウケンモン in Japanese,[4][8] 큰쥐똥나무저녁나방 (automated translation: wood pellets evening large moth)[9] in Korean,[2] and 锋首夜蛾 (automated translation: Feng first armyworm)[9] in China.[5]
Its wingspan is 38–45 mm.[4] They emerge as adults between June and September in Japan.[4]
Graeser's 1890 description described a complex mix of colorations and markings on the wings, a purplish grey head and thorax mixed with fuscous, and a whiteish abdomen "irrorated with fuscous and dorsally tinged with brown towards base, the crests blackish."[10]
^ ab"Craniophora praeclara (큰쥐똥나무저녁나방)". 박규택교수의 곤충 데이터베이스 (Professor of insects bakgyutaek database) (in Korean). Biological Research Information Center, POSTECH (Pohang University of Science and Technology). 16 December 2013.
^"Craniophora praeclara". Lepidoptera.ru: an illustrated catalog of the butterflies of the world (in Russian). Lepidoptera.ru. Retrieved 16 December 2013.
^Zolotarenko, G.S.; Dubatolov, V.V. "Acronictinae (Noctuidae) collection of Siberian Zoological Museum". Siberian Zoological Museum. Novosibirsk, Russia: Institute of Animal Systematics and Ecology, Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Retrieved 16 December 2013.
^Toda, Masanori J. "Craniophora praeclara ニッコウケンモン". Taxonomic information database for world species of Drosophilidae. Hokkaido University. Retrieved 16 December 2013.