 The species name of "M. raptor" is from the Latin for "plunderer", referring to its tail-eating habits; the species name of "M. duccis" refers to the Duke University Center for Creative Ichthyology (DUCCIS), an ichthyology club.Based on several shared skeletal traits, the closest relative of "Magnosternarchus" is believed to be the genus "Sternarchella".Several studies using both morphological and genetic data, published in 2013 and later, have strongly suggested that the genus should be merged into "Sternarchella" (making "Magosternarchus" a junior synonym) and this has been followed by the Catalog of Fishes.