The description of the species by John Gould was published in 1842, one of four new species of 'kangaroos' presented before the Zoological Society of London in 1841. The type location was given as Port Essington. The author assigned the new species to the genus Osphranter,[2] a taxon later submerged as a subgenus of Macropus, and recognised an affinity with his earlier description of Macropus robustus (known as the euro or wallaroo).[4] A taxonomic restructuring in 2019, based on genetic analysis[5], promoted Osphranter back to genus level, redefining the antilopine kangaroo and the red kangaroo, among others, as species within the genus Osphranter.[4]