The genus formerly contained twenty species but it was split after a molecular phylogenetic analysis published in 2011 showed that the genus was polyphyletic.[2] Former members were moved to the six new genera: Nesoptilotis, Bolemoreus, Caligavis, Stomiopera, Gavicalis and Ptilotula.[2]
The name Lichenostomus was introduced by the German ornithologist Jean Cabanis in 1851.[4] The word is derived from the Greek leikhēn meaning lichen or callous and stoma meaning mouth.[5]