 Brown discovered the holotype female from an M. vindex nest on 23 March 1955 northwest from Wagin at Badjanning Rocks, Western Australia. The specimen is currently housed in the Western Australian Museum in Perth. Two dealated paratype females were also collected with the holotype, looking very similar to each other except for the mandibles and colouration. The mandibular dentition varies among the three, and one of the paratypes is darker than the holotype. In 1991, a published journal reviewing the species groups assigned M. inquilina to the M. cephalotes species group. However, entomologists placed it in the M. gulosa species group one month after placing it in the M. cephalotes species group.
