The genus Automolus was introduced in 1853 by the German naturalist Ludwig Reichenbach to accommodate the taxon Sphenura sulphurascens Lichtenstein, now treated as a subspecies of the white-eyed foliage-gleaner.[1][2] The name is from the Ancient Greek automolos meaning "deserter".[3]
The tepui foliage-gleaner has been placed in this genus, but behavior, voice, and morphology all point to it belonging in Syndactyla,[6] and molecular data confirmed this hypothesis.[7]
The eastern woodhaunter was formerly placed in its own genus Hyloctistes but molecular evidence showed that it was nested in Automolus.[8] The ruddy foliage-gleaner and the Santa Marta foliage-gleaner, formerly placed in Automolus, are actually more closely related to Clibanornis foliage-gleaners.[8]