This species was first collected in 1964 by J.I.Townsend and A.K.Walker on Mount Arthur, Nelson from Aciphylla ferox. The holotype specimen is held in the New Zealand Arthropod Collection and was described by Robin Craw in 1999 and named Lyperobius clarkei after the entomologist C.E. Clarke. It is a member of the speargrass or Lyperobius weevils in the sub-family Molytinae.