They can also be found in upland wetland habitat at altitudes between 800 and 1100 m. Adults are on the wing in March.

This species was described by Louis Beethoven Prout in 1912 as Larentia exoriens using material collected by George Howes at Glenorchy in Otago in March.

[4] George Hudson discussed and illustrated this species under the name Xanthorhoe exoriens in his 1928 publication The Butterflies and Moths of New Zealand.

[2] The male holotype specimen, collected at Glenorchy, is held at the Natural History Museum, London.

All the wings are ochreous, the forewings being strongly tinged with reddish on the costa and extreme base; the median band consists of four very irregular faint blackish lines, the second and third lines forming three distinct loops; there is a distinct blackish discal dot and the outer edge of the median band is very strongly waved, with distinct projections above and below the middle; the subterminal area is broad with one or two very faint cloudy marks; all the wings have a terminal series of minute brown marks, and all the cilia are plain ochreous without bars.