Original description as Pseudotropheus xanstomachus:
ZooBank:07169E48-9D82-40E3-8641-E5AEAEDDC281.
- Stauffer, Jay Richard Jr. & J. M. Boltz. 1989. "Description of a rock-dwelling cichlid (Teleostei: Cichlidae) from Lake Malawi, Africa". Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington. v. 102; n. 1; pp. 8-13 (crc01070)
Conservation: Metriaclima xanstomachus is evaluated by the international union for the conservation of nature in the iucn red list of threatened species as (VU) vulnerable (2006).