Campbellana and its only species C. attenuata were first described by J. T. Salmon and J. D. Bradley in 1956 using material collected by J. H. Sorensen at Campbell Island in August.

[3] The holotype of C. attenuata is held at the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa.

Head, thorax, and fore wing medium to dark brown in the female, paler and with scattered pale ochreous scales and crest of ochreous on top of the head in the male; antennae of female filiform, pale ochreous to creamy white, that of the male dark brown with the flagellum clothed by open whorls of extremely long fine hairs.

Fore wings much reduced and tapering from base to apex as a long attenuated filament.

[2][5] Dugdale hypothesised that the larvae of C. attenuata feed on grasses, likely on the dicotyledonous stolons or rosettes.