Until a revision determining the priority of names assigned to this species, ornithologists cited the description under the epithet magnirostris. Descriptions of subspecies were published by Gregory Mathews in 1912, Burhinus magnirostris rufescens and B. magnirostris broomei describing specimens collected in western Australia and Burhinus magnirostris ramsayi collected in the east at Queensland. These descriptions are recognised as synonymous with Burhinus grallarius.[4]