Macabeemyrma shows similarities to extinct ants in the genus Ypresiomyrma, and to the living Nothomyrmecia macrops, but has not been conclusively assigned to any tribe, instead generally regarded as incertae sedis within Myrmeciinae.

[4][5] The specimen was described by Bruce Archibald, Stefan Cover and Corrie Moreau of Harvard University's Museum of Comparative Zoology, with their 2006 type description of the genus and species.

However, in a 2008 paper, Cesare Baroni Urbani of the University of Basel, Switzerland, noted that the specimen shares some traits found in other ant subfamilies and some wasps, and lacks key diagnostic traits (synapomorphies) of the ant family, Formicidae, and thus argued Macabeemyrma could only be confidently classified as incertae sedis within the order Hymenoptera.

[7][8] A subsequent report describing new fossil myrmecines accepted the classification of Archibald and colleagues without comment on the views of Baroni Urbani.

[9] They suggest that Macabeemyrma ovata and other extinct ants such as Avitomyrmex and Ypresiomyrma may be closely related to the living Nothomyrmecia macrops.

The exact shape of the mandibles cannot be properly determined, but they are elongated and not subtriangular which is normal for other members of Myrmeciinae except the genus Myrmecia.

[8][11] Its elongated head and mandibles distinguish this species from those in the genus Ypresiomyrma, which are otherwise thought to have a close phylogenetic relationship due to similarities.