The four species from New Caledonia were once placed in a separate genus, "Eremopanax", distinguished by seeds containing smooth endosperm, versus ruminate endosperm for "Arthrophyllum". It was later determined that this character does not clearly distinguish the two genera, and they were united under "Arthrophyllum" by William Raymond Philipson in 1978, bringing the total number of species up to about 30. For "Arthrophyllum" in New Caledonia, the taxonomic history is complex, because the species are not clearly distinct, and their circumscription has varied greatly from one author to another.