"Paraponera clavata" was first described by Danish zoologist Johan Christian Fabricius in 1775, who named it "Formica clavata" in his "Systema entomologiae", based on a worker he collected. Fabricius incorrectly listed the type locality as India, as these ants are only found in Central and South America. In 1804, "P. clavata" was transferred to the genus "Ponera" by the French zoologist Pierre André Latreille. The genus "Paraponera" was established by the British entomologist Frederick Smith in 1858, and "P. clavata" was designated as the type species by monotypy (the condition of a taxonomic group having only a single taxon described). In his book, Smith would synonymise multiple taxa under "Paraponera clavata", including "Formica armata", "Formica spininoda", "Ponera tarsalis" and "Ponera clavata". Later publications would also synonymise more taxa, including "Formica aculeata" and "Formica clavata". The genus was placed in a monotypic tribe, the Paraponerini, in 1901 by the Italian entomologist Carlo Emery, who stressed the importance of certain morphological characteristics of "Paraponera"; Emery had also placed the tribe close to the Ectatommini. This classification was accepted by the entomological community until 1958, where the American entomologist William Brown Jr. synonymised Paraponerini and transferred "Paraponera" to Ectatommini. It was treated as a valid tribe in 1994, but in 2003, the English myrmecologist elevated the rank of the tribe to subfamily level as Paraponerinae, being a part of the Poneromorph subfamilies.