This species was first described in 1989 by Hans Donner and Christopher Wilkinson from specimens collected in the Taupō, Taranaki and Fiordland regions.

[3] The male holotype specimen, collected at Lyttle's Flat, Hollyford Valley on the 3 February 1976 "on Olearia ilicifolia" by J. S. Dugdaleis, is held at the New Zealand Arthropod Collection.

Forewing 3-4 mm long, slender, with fore and hind margins more or less parallel; browngrey with irregularly scattered paler spots, lustrous, reflecting smooth silvery grey that seems to cover wing with a thin, transparent layer; fringe brown, short, thickly set.

[3]Donner and Wilkinson also described the female of the species as follows: As for male, but with about 30 antennal segments, and wing fringe longer.[3]S.

[3] The larvae have been shown to feed on Olearia ilicifolia, a species that is endemic to New Zealand, and also Olearia albida, a south-eastern Australian species cultivated in New Zealand, as the moth has been successfully reared from both these plants.