New Zealand Birds Online lists this bird as Poodytes punctatus, while the pool uses Megalurus punctatus. Its page describes the same Fernbird as small, well camouflaged and patchily distributed around New Zealand.
It is streaky brown above and pale below, with plain brown tail feathers that look ragged at the tips. The chestnut cap and pale eyebrow are described for mainland subspecies.
It mainly stays in dense, low wetland vegetation. The page also records it in drier shrubland and tussock at a few sites.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.