This species was first described by Francis Walker in 1865 using specimens collected by T. R. Oxley in Nelson and originally named Xylina defigurata.

[4] The female holotype is held at the Natural History Museum, London.

Palpi dull ochraceous, fringed beneath, obliquely ascending, rising a little higher than the vertex; second joint mostly black on the outer side; third elongate-conical, about one-third of the length of the second.

Abdomen brownish-cinereous, extending rather beyond, the hind wings; apical tuft ochraceous.

[1][5] The adults of this species are on the wing from January to March and is attracted to light.