It is one of three Praenuculinae genera known solely from late Ordivician, Caradoc epoch, fossils found in South America.

[1] Cuyopsis symmetricus was first described in 1999 by Teresa M. Sánchez from fossils in sediments of the late Middle Ordivician, Caradocian aged Don Braulio Formation.

[1][2] Generally the shells of Cuyopsis symmetricus are rectangular in outline and notably symmetrical.

When described, the genus name Cuyopsis was chosen by Sánchez in reference to the Cuyo region where the type locality is.

The species epithet symmetricus was coined as a reference to the notably symmetrical nature of the valves.