 German naturalists Marcus Elieser Bloch and Johann Gottlob Schneider described "Rhina ancylostoma" in their 1801 "Systema Ichthyologiae".Their account was based on a long specimen, now lost, collected off the Coromandel Coast of India.The genus name "Rhina" comes from the Greek "rhinos" ("snout"); the specific epithet "ancylostoma" is derived from the Greek "ankylos" ("curved" or "crooked") and "stoma" ("mouth").