This species was first described by Edward Meyrick in 1905 as Argyria strophaea using specimens collected in Wellington by George Hudson.

[3][4] Hudson discussed and illustrated the species under this name in his 1928 book The Butterflies and Moths of New Zealand.

Head and thorax ochreous-whitish, partially yellowish-tinged, and sprinkled with dark grey.

Fore-wings elongate-triangular, costa gently arched, apex obtuse, termen slightly rounded, oblique, faintly waved; pale brassy-ochreous, suffusedly mixed with white, and irrorated with dark grey; subbasal line white, edged anteriorly with dark fuscous, angulated near costa, obsolete towards dorsum; first and second lines white, more or less edged with dark fuscous, first obtusely angulated above middle, second sinuate inwards towards dorsum, preceded on costa by a small dark fuscous spot; a small roundish dark fuscous spot in disc before middle; a narrow white transverse mark in disc beyond middle; a terminal series of dark fuscous lunulate marks: cilia whitish, with a fuscous subapical Hue, basal half barred with fuscous.

[6] Other than the type locality of Wellington, this species has also been found at Whakarewarewa, Raurimu, Whanganui,[5] Haruru falls in the Bay of Islands, Lake Taupō, Bluff Hill in Napier, and at Lake Rotorua.