The red-billed spurfowl was described in 1838 by the English naturalist
George Robert Waterhouse from specimens collected by
James Edward Alexander on his expedition to
Namaqualand and
Damaraland. Waterhouse coined the
binomial name Francolinus adspersus and noted that the specimens had come near the
Fish River in what is now Namibia. The specific epithet
adspersus is Latin for "sprinkling". The species is now placed in the
genus Pternistis that was introduced by the German naturalist
Johann Georg Wagler in 1832. The red-billed spurfowl is considered as
monotypic: the proposed
subspecies mesicus is not recognised. ==References==