C.L. Gazin named the genus and the type species,
Conoryctella dragonensis, in 1939, based on a portion of the left
maxilla (upper jawbone) and teeth collected in 1938. Until 1981, the species was known only from the 1939
holotype described by Gazin. A second species,
C. pattersoni, was described by
Robert M. Schoch and
Spencer Lucas in 1982. The species was described based on material from the
Nacimiento Formation, in New Mexico's
San Juan Basin, and named after
Bryan Patterson. ==Type locality==