A medium-size (3.8-4.0 cm wingspan) red-brown moth. Forewings are dark red-brown, paler along the terminal margin and on the upper half inside the subterminal line. The stigma is a single simple silvery-gold teardrop. Hindwings are light brown, shading into a wide, dark terminal band. The antennae are simple and both the sexes are alike. Metallica has a similar shape and color to A. bimaculata, which has a different shape two-part stigma.