The moth was first described from a specimen found in Germany, by the Danish zoologist, Johan Christian Fabricius in 1787.

Tinea – a ″gnawing worm″, was first used by the father of modern taxonomy Carl Linnaeus, in his Systema Naturae published in 1758 and was applied to various larvae, including those Lepidoptera which ruined clothing.

Micropterix was raised by Jacob Hübner and the name comes from the small size of the adult; Mikros – ″little″ and pterux – ″a wing″.

The specific part of the name tunbergella is after the Swedish naturalist Carl Peter Thunberg (1743–1828).

[8] It is found in most of Europe, except Bulgaria, Croatia, Finland, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg Portugal, Slovenia and Ukraine.