[1] It can be distinguished from its East Maui counterpart, D. clavisetae, by the shape of the long hairs on the abdomen, which are more rounded in D. neoclavisetae and more flattened in D.

[2] Drosophila neoclavisetae was described in 1990 by William D. Perreira and Kenneth Y. Kaneshiro, from specimens collected in Pu'u Kukui, in West Maui.

Male and female flies are predominantly brown, with a stripe on the thorax, and wing spots similar to other species in the adiastola group.

D. neoclavistae flies have an extra cross vein in cell R5 of the wing, a feature they share with D. neogrimshawi and D. clavisetae in the same species complex.

[3] Both D. neoclavisetae and D. clavisetae perform a mating dance where the male raises its abdomen over its head and produces a droplet of liquid from the anal gland, which it then vibrates in the direction of a female.