O. allotei was described by Rothschild in 1914 as a species, despite the assertion by its discoverer, Abbé Allotte, a priest at the Buin Mission, Bougainville Island, that it was a natural hybrid between Ornithoptera victoriae and Ornithoptera priamus urvillianus.

O. allotei was originally placed in the genus Troides. The female was described by H.M Peebles and W. Schmassmann in 1917.

Schmid (1970), McAlpine (1970) and Haugum & Low (1978) all held the hybrid theory but the final proof of O. allotei being a natural hybrid was made by Ramón Straatman (Jan Haugum in 'Papilio International' (1990)).

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