The buff-necked ibis was described by the French polymath Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon in 1781 in his Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux based on a specimen collected in Cayenne, French Guiana. The bird was also illustrated in a hand-coloured plate engraved by François-Nicolas Martinet in the Planches Enluminées D'Histoire Naturelle which was produced under the supervision of Edme-Louis Daubenton to accompany Buffon's text.
The buff-necked ibis was described by the erudite Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon in 1781 within his Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux. The specimen was obtained from Cayenne, French Guiana and was subsequently illustrated by François-Nicolas Martinet.