 "A. unguicula" is known from three populations on a pastoral lease at Mount Singleton, approximately south-east of Geraldton near Yalgoo.It is found on the upper slopes and summit of Mt Singleton among open scrubland, growing in rocky clay, brown clayey sand or brown loamy soils with dolerite.The species was originally described by the botanists Richard Sumner Cowan and Bruce Maslin in 1990 as part of the work "Acacia Miscellany 3.