National Museum of Nature and Science
The fossil ant was first studied by paleoentomologist Ienori Fujiyama of the National Museum of Nature and Science in Tokyo. Fujiyama's 1970 type description of the new species was published in the Japanese journal "Memoirs of the Natural Science Museum, Tokyo". The etymology for the specific epithet "avita" was not given with the type description. When first described the species was placed by Fujiyama into the "Aphaenogaster" subgenus "Deromyrma", however in the time since the type description, "Deromyrma" has been subsumed into "Aphaenogaster" as a junior synonym and is no longer in use.