Original description as Metriaclima mbenjii:
ZooBank:A4352A31-B18A-4BC1-98F5-943A02A1A0B1.
- Stauffer, Jay Richard Jr. & N.J. Bowers, K.A. Kellogg, K.R. McKaye. 1997. "A revision of the blue-black Pseudotropheus zebra (Teleostei: Cichlidae) complex from Lake Malawi, Africa, with a description of a new genus and ten new species". The Proceedings of the Academy Natural Sciences Philadelphia. 148; pp 189-230 (crc00049)
Conservation: Metriaclima mbenjii is evaluated by the international union for the conservation of nature in the iucn red list of threatened species as (VU) vulnerable (2006). Although M. mbenjii is restricted in its distribution to the Mbenji Islands it is currently not threatened with over-fishing.