Original description as Pseudotropheus elegans:
ZooBank:3734ED88-3BB9-48CC-A2DD-2FF2968194A5.
- Trewavas, Ethelwynn. 1935. "A Synopsis of the Cichlid Fishes of Lake Nyasa". Annals and Magazine of Natural History. Series 10:65-118 (crc00118)
Conservation: Pseudotropheus elegans is evaluated by the international union for the conservation of nature in the iucn red list of threatened species as (LC) least concern (2018). P. elegans is a common resident of the sandy habitat at all known locations and no immediate or major threats are known.