The species was first formally described by David Jones in 2008 and given the name Arachnorchis atrovespa from a specimen collected on Black Mountain in the Australian Capital Territory. The description was published in The Orchadian. In 2010, Gary Backhouse changed the name to Caladenia atrovespa. The specific epithet (atrovespa) is derived from the Latin words atra meaning black: and vespa meaning wasp.: