 "Adelpha californica" is classified under the genus "Adelpha" (sisters) in the tribe Limenitidini of the subfamily Limenitidinae (admirals and relatives) of the brush-footed butterfly family Nymphalidae.It belongs to the "serpa" species group of the genus.The species was first described by the British entomologist Arthur Gardiner Butler in 1865 as "Heterochroa californica".