 The prehistoric species was described, along with "B. planifrons", by Richard Lydekker in 1878.In 1898 Lydekker synonymised "B. planifrons" with "B. acutifrons", reconsidering the skull found to be that of a female individual of the same species.Edwin H. Colbert in 1935 first suggested that from this species the modern species of "Bos" arose, with the aurochs, "B. primigenius", the ancestors of modern taurine cattle, evolving from the Indian Subcontinent via "B. namadicus", a smallish prehistoric species of cattle described by Hugh Falconer in 1837 from a fossil recovered in the early 19th century from Narbada (known at the time as Narmada by the British Raj) in central India.