 Clinton Hart Merriam first described the Cozumel raccoon as morphologically distinctive from its mainland relative, the common raccoon subspecies "Procyon lotor hernandezii", in 1901.Since then, other scientists have generally agreed with Merriam's assessment, especially Kristofer Helgen and Don E. Wilson, who have dismissed this classification for the other four island raccoons in their studies in 2003 and 2005.Therefore, the Cozumel raccoon was listed as the only distinct species of the genus "Procyon" besides the common raccoon and the crab-eating raccoon in the third edition of "Mammal Species of the World".