 Calling it the Derwent smelt, he observed that it appeared in numbers in the upper Derwent near New Norfolk in October and November.Allan Riverstone McCulloch placed it in the genus "Lovettia" in 1915, describing it from specimens collected by a Mr Lovett from the Derwent River.Originally named Tasmanian whitebait the species was renamed Australian whitebait following the discovery of a population in southern Victoria on the Australian mainland in 1993.