This species was first described by Edward Meyrick in 1897 using a specimen collected by George Hudson in Wellington and named Semiocosma balanophora.

[2] Alfred Philpott, thinking he was describing a new species, named the moth Izatha milligani in 1927.

[5] It has been recorded Northland, Auckland, Waikato, Taranaki, Taupo, Rangitikei and Wellington districts.

[5] Although Hudson gave records of specimens from the South Island Robert J.

[5] Larvae have been reared from dead Kunzea ericoides and from an unidentified rotten log on the ground.