E. axenana was first described by Edward Meyrick in 1881 using one specimen taken at rest on a tree trunk near Wellington in January.

[4] George Hudson discussed and illustrated this species in his 1928 book The butterflies and moths of New Zealand under that name.

[6] John S. Dugdale points out that the female holotype has attached to it via glue the metathorax, hindwings, and abdomen of a male specimen.

The fore-wings in the male have the apex slightly hooked and the termen strongly bowed; the general colour varies from pale ochreous-brown to dull purplish-grey; the costa is broadly shaded with dark brown, darkest near the middle and usually enclosing an oval paler patch; in the purplish varieties there is often a large reddish patch just below the costa; there is nearly always a narrow pale brown or yellowish patch on the apex and usually a number of dark brownish markson the dorsum.

[5]Hudson goes into more detail for the female of the species stating: The female has the fore-wings considerably longer and narrower, the costa elbowed at 1⁄3, the apex more strongly hooked, and the colouring and markings much more variable than in the male; the usual ground colour is pdle brownish-ochreous or bone colour; there is a dark brown oblong mark on the costa at one-sixth almost meeting a pale brown wavy band on the dorsum at about 1⁄4; a narrow pale brown band on the costa at 1⁄3 almost meets a large patch of the same colour on the dorsum which reaches to the tornus; there is a narrow, irregular, edging of brown on the costa from about 1⁄2 nearly to the apex, leaving a narrow, oblique apical band of the pale ground colour; the termen is more or less distinctly bordered with pale brown.