Gerp's mouse lemur was discovered by German and Malagasy members of the Malagasy organization Groupe d'Étude et de Recherche sur les Primates de Madagascar (GERP) in a previously unstudied lowland forest known as the Sahafina Forest in eastern Madagascar, near Mantadia National Park.
The genetics tests initially conducted focused on three different loci of mitochondrial DNA: a partial D-loop region, MT-CYB, and COII.