This species was described by Edward Meyrick in 1911 using material collected by George Hudson at Mount Holdsworth in the Tararua Range at an altitude of approximately 1200m.

[1][2] Hudson discussed and illustrated this species in his 1928 publication The Butterflies and Moths of New Zealand.

Abdomen black, mixed on sides with whitish-yellow, segmental margins slenderly whitish.

Forewings triangular, costa straight, apex obtuse, termen rounded, rather oblique; dark fuscous, with a few scattered pale - yellowish scales; lines cloudy, light - yellowish, subbasal, first (and second partially) whitish, first curved, median very indefinite, second angulated in middle, subterminal irregular : cilia white, basal half fuscous.

[3] Larvae of species within the genus Notoreas feed exclusively on plants within the genera Pimelea and Kelleria.