The rufous-shafted woodstar was formally described in 1839 by the French ornithologist Jules Bourcier based on specimens collected in Trinidad.

The specific epithet was chosen by Bourcier to honour the French zoologist Claude Jourdan.

Both sexes of all subspecies have a straight black bill and white patches on their flank behind the wing.

The tail has two rounded "lobes"; the central feathers are green and the others cinnamon with a dark bar near the end.

As of July 2020, Cornell Lab of Ornithology's Macaulay Library has very few recordings of the species and xeno-canto has none.

[8] The nominate subspecies of rufous-shafted woodstar is found in northeastern Venezuela's Sucre and Monagas states and, according to some taxonomies, in Trinidad as well.

[8] The rufous-shafted woodstar inhabits semi-open and open landscapes such as scrublands, the edge of montane forest, and coffee plantations; it occasionally visits the lower parts of the páramo.