German ornithologist Hermann Schlegel first proposed in 1857 that the species belonged to the starling family, (Sturnidae), reclassifying it as part of the genus "Sturnus", "S. capensis". This reclassification was observed by other authors; Swedish zoologist Carl Jakob Sundevall proposed the new genus name "Lophopsarus" ("crested starling") in 1872, yet "Fregilupus varius"—the oldest name—remains the bird's binomial, and all other scientific names are synonyms. In 1874, after a detailed analysis of the only known skeleton (held at the Cambridge University Museum of Zoology), British ornithologist James Murie agreed that it was a starling. English zoologist Richard Bowdler Sharpe said in 1890 that the hoopoe starling was similar to the starling genus "Basilornis", but did not note any similarities other than their crests.