The black-faced lion tamarin was not recognized until 1990 when two Brazilian researchers, Maria Lucia Lorini and Vanessa Persson, described it based on individuals from the island of Superagui in the Brazilian state of Paraná.[5] Shortly after additional populations were discovered on the adjacent mainland in Paraná and in the far southern São Paulo.[6] The specific name caissara is a reference to the caicaras, the local people of Superagui Island.