The caterpillar lives polyphagous on deciduous wood. I found it for example on Quercus and Tilia.
Plagodis dolabraria inhabits deciduous forests and grove-rich habitats of all kinds into the human settlement area.
The pupa hibernates. The moths fly in one or two generations, usually from mid-April to August. With just a single generation (at higher elevations), Plagodis dolabraria flies from May to early July. The caterpillar lives from late May to early October and is particularly found in the August/early September.
Plagodis dolabraria is distributed from Spain to east Asia. In the north, it is only found to Southern Scandinavia.