This species was first described by Edward Meyrick in 1929 from specimens collected around Waiouru by George Hudson and named Leucania paraxysta.

[3] The lectotype specimen is held at the Natural History Museum, London.

[4] In 1988 J. S. Dugdale, in his catalogue of New Zealand Lepidoptera, confirmed this placement.

[5] In 2019 Robert Hoare undertook a major review of New Zealand Noctuidae species.

Forewings elongate-triangular, termen obliquely rounded; pale ochreous; veins finely brownish, posteriorly more or less sprinkled dark fuscous or blackish; slender whitish streaks along upper and lower margins of cell; a fine brownish streak above lower of these from before middle of wing expanded to fill space between veins 4 and 5 to termen; in ♂ wedge-shaped brownish spots resting on termen between veins 5–8, in ♂ more faintly indicated; a narrow brownish streak between veins 3 and 4 from near origin to termen, some whitish suffusion before base of this; a narrow reddish-brown streak somewhat sprinkled dark fuscous along fold from base to middle, continued by broader but lighter brownish suffusion above fold to termen; no black dots; cilia pale ochreous, ♀ tinged brownish.

[2] This species is found at subalpine altitudes in native tussock grasslands and shrubland.