The species was first described as Lithocolletis hardenbergiella in 1957 by Keith Arthur John Wise, who described the species based on specimens taken from Hardenbergia growing in a suburban garden in Epsom, Auckland, New Zealand that were first noticed in April 1954.

[1] Specimens collected in 1955 were placed in the collections of the Plant Diseases Division of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, and in the Natural History Museum, Berlin.

[2] The moth is darkly coloured with white markings, and has a length of 2 mm (0.079 in).

[3] Porphyrosela hardenbergiella is considered an adventive non-native species.

This article relating to moths in the subfamily Lithocolletinae is a stub.