meso- and metathorax are colored orange-brown above and below and have two pairs of slightly darker bumps on the upper side, which in Mearnsiana maranao are formed as longer tips.

This male holotype was found at the Mount Apo in Mindanao and is deposited at the National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C..

The name Mearnsiana is dedicated to the American ornithologist and natural scientist Edgar Alexander Mearns, who found the holotype at the Mount Apo.

The female examined was found by Thomas Buckley and A. Mohagan on May 22, 2012 at Mount Redondo in the north of Dinagat Island.

The species supplement is dedicated to the Maranao people, a predominantly Muslim Filipino ethnic group native to the region around Lake Lanao.