The eponym for the species name "hartii" is J. H. Hart, who provided the holotype to Thomas.

Hart was the superintendent of the Botanic Gardens in Trinidad, which is the type locality.

[2] The genus Enchisthenes was described in 1908 by Danish mammalogist Knud Andersen.

He noted that Enchisthenes was closely related to Artibeus, and designated A. hartii as the type species and the only member of the genus.

[4] Its range includes Bolivia, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Panama, Peru, Trinidad and Tobago, and Venezuela.