The species was one of the first 40 New Zealand insect species to be described, and was collected by naturalists as a part of the
Second voyage of James Cook. Upon return to the United Kingdom, the species was described by
Johan Christian Fabricius in 1755, who used the name
Callidium variegatum. In 1840, British entomologist
Edward Newman created the genus
Coptomma, describing
Coptomma virgatum as the
type species for the genus. In 1843, German entomologist
Ernst Dieffenbach synonymised
Callidium variegatum and
Coptomma virgatum, leading to the modern scientific name
Coptomma variegatum. The holotype of the species was deposited in
John George Children's collection of beetles in
London, but has since been lost. The two original descriptions by Fabricius and Newman identified the species as being a native of
Australia, which was incorrect. ==Description==