 A 1986 revision of morphological characters of the genus "Pipistrellus" separated the "tasmaniensis" group as the type of the new genus, the eastern false pipistrelle species "Falsistrellus tasmaniensis", and described this new species "Falsistrellus mackenziei" (western false pipistrelle).The holotype was collected at Donelly, in the south-west of Australia, in 1962 by W. Boswell.The population has been noted with the misspelling "mckenziei" (for synonym Pipistrellus mackenziei) in a 2001 conservation plan.