After consulting Brindle's 1971 revision of this group, as well as specimens identified by him in the Field Museum collection, this does appear to be the Marava arachidis. The dark femora allow this species to be separated from both M. pulchella and M. unidentata. The male forceps of M. arachidis lack the basal tooth common to both of those species, having just a single weakly developed anteapical tooth. Males of M. unidentata have a triangular extension of the pygidium, compared to the mostly flat pygidium of M. pulchella.

M. arachidis is apparently cosmopolitan in distribution, with reports from Australia, New Guinea, Indonesia, Surinam, Denmark, and Liberia. Brindle mentions records from Massacheussets, Florida, Texas, California, and Mexico. Specimens at the Field Museum are from the US Virgin Islands and Colombia. The records found on bugguide represent a considerable extension of this species into the Midwest.

The habitat this single specimen was collected from was elevated (709 feet... this counts as elevated in Illinois) and a mix of forest and restored prairie. Collected with a UV light trap. Specimens from Lake Co., Indiana were also collected with UV lights. Despite considerable sampling in this area with pitfall traps, this species has only been found in the UV samples.