Considered a synonym of Protomelas taeniolatus (Trewavas, 1935)
- Eccles, David H. & Ethelwynn Trewavas. 1989. "Malawian cichlid fishes. The Classification of some Haplochromine genera". Lake Fish Movies, Herten, West Germany. 1-334 (crc00063)
Original description as Haplochromis cancellus:
ZooBank:91765D66-D71B-41A8-B93E-76A0D26B64FC.
- Greenwood, Peter Humphry. 1963. "A collection of fishes from the Aswa river drainage system, Uganda". Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London. 61-74 (crc00165)