This species was first described by George Vernon Hudson in 1922 from a specimen collected on Bold Peak, Lake Wakatipu by F. S. Oliver on the night of December 1910.

[2] Hudson discussed and illustrated this species under that same name in his 1928 publication The butterflies and moths of New Zealand.

The thorax is densely clothed with brownish-ochreous hair with a brown horseshoe-like mark in the middle.

[1] Nivetica nervosa is endemic to New Zealand and the species is widespread in the alpine zone of the South Island.

[1] Little is known of the life history of this species of moth however the adults of N. nervosa are on the wing in December and January.