[2] Belonocnema kinseyi was first named in 1921 by Lewis Hart Weld based on individuals raised from asexual leaf galls collected on Quercus fusiformis in Boerne, Texas.

The specific epithet "kinseyi" honors prominent entomologist and sexologist Alfred Kinsey, who greatly contributed to knowledge of North American gall wasps.

[3] In 1998, it was discovered that the asexual generation described from Texas induced sexual root galls, which at the time was believed to only be associated with Belonocnema treatae.

[1] Additionally, A 2022 study investigating the evolutionary relationships within the family Cynipidae used data from B. kinseyi, where it was placed in the phylogeny as sister to Druon quercuslanigerum.

However, a species turnover occurs in southeast Mississippi, where B. treatae replaces B. kinseyi for the remaining eastern range of Q.