This stork was first described by Blasius in 1896, and named after the German sea captain Hugo Storm, a collector of zoological specimens in the West Indies. In Thailand, it is known as "nok kra su um", which refers to the birds’ fishing procedure by stalking along the bank of a stream in dense forest.
This species is very similar and closely related to the woolly-necked stork whose range partially overlaps with that of Storm's stork. Although Storm's stork has long been considered a separate species, it has also been previously treated as a subspecies of the woolly-necked stork in the more recent past. However, Storm's stork is characterised by a yellowish-orange facial skin patch around the eye that is absent in the woolly-necked stork; and the neck is black and white, whereas it is completely white in the woolly-necked stork.
The bulk of the world population of this stork occurs on Borneo; occurring in Kalimantan (Indonesia), Swarak, Sabah (Malaysia) and Brunei. It is also found throughout Sumatra, although its range there was previously considered to be restricted to the south east. Despite being widespread on both of these islands, the population occurs at low densities and only one or a few individuals have ever been sighted together, with the largest number being 12 during an observation in Brunei. Smaller numbers live in some parts of peninsular Malaysia, where it appears to be particularly rare.
