 Historical synonyms include "Paxillus atrotomentosus" by Elias Magnus Fries (1833), "Rhymovis atrotomentosa" by Gottlob Ludwig Rabenhorst (1844), and "Sarcopaxillus atrotomentosus" by Ivan Zmitrovich (2004).The variety "bambusinus" was described from Trinidad in 1951 by British mycologists Richard Eric Defoe Baker and William Thomas Dale.The species name is derived from the Latin words "atrotomentosus", meaning "black-haired".