 The pyjama shark was originally described as "Squalus africanus" by German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in 1789, in the thirteenth edition of "Systema Naturae".He did not designate a type specimen.In 1837, Scottish physician and zoologist Andrew Smith created the new genus "Poroderma" for this species and the related leopard catshark ("P. pantherinum", at the time believed to be multiple species).