This genus was circumscribed by William Harris Ashmead in 1887. Ashmead named the genus after "Mr. H. F. Bassett, of Waterbury, Conn., who has done so much towards advancing our knowledge of these intricate Hymenopters". Two species were included in the genus's initial circumscription: B. floridana, described in the same work, and B. tenuicornis.[1] Bassett had described the latter species in 1881, placing it in the genus Cynips.[2]
A 2007 revision of the genus by G. Melika and W. G. Abrahamson recognizes the following eight species in this genus:[4]
Melika and Abrahamson transferred or restored these species from Bassettia to Callirhytis Foerster, 1869 in 2002.[6][4] They had been included in Weld's 1951 taxonomy of Bassettia.[7]