According to Herbert Walter Levi, specimens which Władysław Kulczyński illustrated and tentatively identified as Gea subarmata in the 1910s[3][4] were in fact G.

[5] Publications by Michael H. Robinson and colleagues in the 1970s and 1980s referred to specimens they found in Wau, Papua New Guinea as belonging to an undescribed taxon.

They had enlisted the Capuchin friar Chrysanthus to identify spider specimens and he realized this constituted a new species; he died in 1972 before able to further study it, but thought it belonged to the genus Argiope.

[5] Gea eff has the shortest scientific name of all spider species, with a length of only six characters.

[12] G. eff spiders were recorded in the Wau Valley as part of a year-long transect study by Robinson and colleagues.

[17] The female has a total length of 6.6 mm; it has a brown carapace, a light-colored head, a black sternum with a white longitudinal stripe, and banded legs.

[5] The male has a total length of 3.0 mm; its carapace, sternum, and legs are beige, and its dorsum has two white spots.