Xanthorhoe frigida was first described by George Howes in 1946 using a specimen collected by T. M. Smith at Homer in December 1944.

There is a small white patch at base in which a thin grey line runs centrally from costa to dorsum.

In the centre of this patch and half way across the wing there is a clear white which starts on the costa to swell out into an elongate oval area reaching halfway to the dorsum.

The outer terminal of the wing is grey with a brownish suffusion, and on this the subterminal line appears in clear white.

[6] Other than its type locality, the species has more recently been collected at Rastus Burn Basin, The Remarkables in December and February,[7] the Eyre Ecological District, northern Southland,[8] and in the alpine zone of the Ben Nevis Pastoral lease area, Central Otago.

[10] A host plant of this species is the at risk and naturally uncommon Pachycladon wallii.

[6][8] This species has the "Nationally Vulnerable" conservation status under the New Zealand Threat Classification System.