This is a small, active bird, measuring about 13 cm (5.1 in) from bill to tail.

The cardinal myzomela was formally described in 1788 by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in his revised and expanded edition of Carl Linnaeus's Systema Naturae.

[4][5] Gmelin based his description on the "cardinal creeper" that had been described and illustrated in 1782 by the English ornithologist John Latham in his book A General Synopsis of Birds.

Latham had access to a specimen in the Leverian Museum that had been brought to London from the island of Tanna in Vanuata in the South Pacific Ocean.

[7] Eight subspecies are recognised:[7] Populations from elsewhere have been recently separated, e.g. as the Micronesian myzomela.