 The specific epithet is derived from the Latin terms "cǐtreus" 'pertaining to citrus' and "gǔla" 'throat', hence 'yellow-throated'.The northern subspecies "cairnsii" was described by amateur ornithologist Gregory Mathews in 1912.The yellow-throated scrubwren was formerly placed in the genus "Sericornis" but a phylogenetic analysis of mitochondrial DNA sequences published in 2018 found that the species was not closely related to other scrubwrens nor to the mouse-warblers.