Parascolopsis tanyactis was first formally described in 1986 by the Australian ichthyologist Barry C. Russell with its type locality given as 250 km (160 mi) north-northeast of Larrey Point over the North West Shelf, off Western Australia at depths between 250 and 160 m (820 and 520 ft).

[2] The 5th edition of Fishes of the World classifies Parascolopsis within the family Nemipteridae which it places in the order Spariformes.

[3] Parascolopsis tanyactis has the specific name tanyactis which is a combination of tanyo, meaning "stretched", and actis, which means "ray", an allusion to the elongated fourth and fifth soft rays of the dorsal fin in adults.

[6] This species has a maximum published standard length of 21 cm (8.3 in), although 15 cm (5.9 in) is more typical[7] Parascolopsis tanyactis is distributed in the eastern Indian Ocean and western Pacific Ocean occurring from southeastern Indonesia and northwestern Australia eastwards to northern Sabah, Malaysia and the central Philippines.

This species occurs at depths between 40 and 200 m (130 and 660 ft) over the soft sediments of the continental shelf and slope.