The wasp is only known from the Mekongga Mountains in the southeastern part of the Indonesian island of Sulawesi.

It was described in 2012 by Lynn Kimsey, director of the Bohart Museum of Entomology and professor of entomology at the University of California, Davis,[2] and Michael Ohl, curator and head of entomology at the Museum für Naturkunde, Berlin.

[3] Rosichon Ubaidillah from the Indonesian Institute of Sciences also contributed the discovery.

[5] The species is named after the Garuda bird,[2] the National Symbol of Indonesia.

[6] Males of one morph are about 3.3 cm (1.3 in) long, with very large jaws.