The German explorer Theodor von Heuglin first described the species.

Heuglin's spurfowl was described in 1863 by the German ornithologist and explorer Theodor von Heuglin from specimens collected near the Pongo River in what is now the Bahr el Ghazal region of South Sudan.

[2] The specific epithet icterorhynchus combines the Ancient Greek ikteros meaning "jaundice-yellow" and rhunkhos meaning "bill".

[3] The species is now placed in the genus Pternistis that was introduced by the German naturalist Johann Georg Wagler in 1832.

[6] Heuglin's spurfowl is considered to be monotypic: no subspecies are recognised.