The vermilion tanager was formally described in 1858 by the English zoologistPhilip Sclater from a specimen collected near the Napo River in Ecuador. He coined the binomial nameEuchaetes coccineus.[2] Sclater subsequently discovered that the genus name Euchaetes was already in use for a genus of moths and in 1879 proposed the replacement name Calochaetes.[3][4] The new name combines the Ancient Greekkalos meaning beautiful with khaitē meaning "mane". The specific epithet coccineus is a Latin word meaning "scarlet-coloured".[5] The genus contains a single species, the vermilion tanager. The species is monotypic: no subspecies are recognised.[6]