Its first account was written in 1888 by the polar explorer George Comer,[2] whom the specific name comeri commemorates.

The Gough moorhen was originally endemic to Gough Island, but in 1956 was introduced to Tristan da Cunha, an island in the same archipelago which was formerly home of the now extinct Tristan moorhen (Galinula nesiotis).

On the basis of DNA sequencing of both recently collected and historical material from both of the archipelago's moorhen species, Groenenberg et al (2008) concluded that the genetic distances between G. nesiotis and G. comeri are of at least the same size as those found between subspecies of common moorhen (G. chloropus) in the literature.

However, on Tristan da Cunha, it is not classified as a native species and therefore is not protected.

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