 It was discovered and collected in 2008 by M. J. Knell during the Kaiparowits Basin Project, initiated by the University of Utah in 2000, from the Kaiparowits Formation within the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument.It was first named by Lindsay E. Zanno, David J. Varricchio, Patrick M. O'Connor, Alan L. Titus, and Michael J. Knell in 2011 and the type species is "Talos sampsoni".The generic name comes from Talos, a giant bronze automaton in Greek mythology and is intended to be a pun on the English word "talon".