The genus name is derived from Messua, a female character from Rudyard Kipling's Jungle Book.

Other salticid genera with names of Kipling's characters are Akela, Bagheera and Nagaina.

The genus was first described in 1896 by American arachnologists George and Elizabeth Peckham based on the type species Messua desidiosa.

After examining the type specimen for Messua desidiosa, Simon commented that it was "much less divergent from typical Zygoballus than [the Peckhams'] description would indicate.

"[2] This was reversed by Wayne Maddison in 1996, and Messua restored as a valid genus.