In 1760 the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson included a description of the Malagasy white-eye in his Ornithologie based on a specimen collected in Madagascar.

[3] When in 1766 the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus updated his Systema Naturae for the twelfth edition, he added 240 species that had been previously described by Brisson.

[4] Although Linnaeus gave the type locality as Madagascar he confusingly used the specific name maderaspatana which is Neo-Latin for Madras (now Chennai) in India.

The upperparts, wings and tail are a dark olive green, the throat is yellow and the breast and belly pale grey.

[1] Small groups of these birds can be found in woodland, foraging among the branches and flitting between the trees, calling constantly to each other with a soft "pee-u".

Prey is sometimes caught in the air by hawking, and the bird may hover briefly while taking food, and probe into inflorescences and lichens, sometimes becoming dusted with pollen.