The yellow-legged flyrobin was formerly placed in the genus Microeca. It was moved to the resurrected genus Kempiella that had originally been introduced by the Australian ornithologist Gregory Mathews based on the results of a molecular phylogenetic study published in 2011.[2][3]
^Christidis, L.; Irestedt, M.; Rowe, D.; Boles, W.E.; Norman, J.A. (2011). "Mitochondrial and nuclear DNA phylogenies reveal a complex evolutionary history in the Australasian robins (Passeriformes: Petroicidae)". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 61 (3): 726–738. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2011.08.014. PMID21867765.