It was described in 1893 by New Zealand naturalist, ethnologist and museum director Augustus Hamilton, from material he had collected the previous year at Castle Rocks on the Ōreti River in Southland.

[1] The Latin specific epithet prisca means "old", referring to its subfossil occurrence.

[3] A review by Trevor Worthy and Richard Holdaway in 2002 recommended that both coots be treated as separate species.

It was also more terrestrial, with its remains discovered in inland forests and subalpine regions as well as coastal wetlands.

Its bones have also been found in early Maori middens in coastal Marlborough, and it is likely to have become extinct through over-hunting.