This was because before its description in 1958 all the species of the genus Automate were found in the Indo-Pacific region.

Automate branchialis was originally described from specimens collected by Holthuis & Gottlieb off the coast of Israel in the 1950s.

At the time the pistol shrimps of the genus Automate were only known from the Indian and Pacific Oceans and although Holthuis & Gottlieb described their specimens as the new species Automate branchialis it was assumed that it had invaded the Mediterranean through the Suez Canal from the Red Sea by Lessepsian migration.

[2] A. branchialis was subsequently collected from a number of locations in the Mediterranean including Izmir Bay in Turkey, in the Greek Islands, Cyprus, from Manfredonia Bay in Italy, Malta, off Marseilles, the Balearic Islands and off Spain.

It was probably overlooked because of its small size and preferred deep water habitat; it is demersal with a depth range of 18–73 m.[3][4][5][6]