Pycnodonta was named by Fischer von Waldheim (1835) [m. kosnik taxon no: 7051]. It is extant. Its type is Pycnodonte radiata. It is the type genus of Pycnodonteini.

It was reranked as Ostrea (Pycnodonte) by Olsson and Richards (1961) and Maxwell (1992); it was corrected as Pycnodonte by Adegoke (1977), Vokes (1980), Woodring (1982), Tashiro and Kozai (1982), Gliozzi and Malatesta (1983), Moore (1987), Squires and Demetrion (1990), Beu et al. (1990), Ward (1992), Squires and Demetrion (1992), Perrilliat (1994), Casadio (1998), Stilwell (1998), Squires (1999), El Qot (2006), Bouchet et al. (2010), Robinson and Lee (2011) and Mendir et al. (2021).

It was assigned to Ostrea by Olsson and Richards (1961); to Ostreidae by Tashiro and Kozai (1982); to Pycnodontini by Casadio (1998); to Pterioida by Sepkoski (2002); to Gryphaeidae by Squires and Demetrion (1992), Squires (1999) and El Qot (2006); to Pycnodonteinae by Adegoke (1977), Vokes (1980), Woodring (1982), Gliozzi and Malatesta (1983), Moore (1987), Squires and Demetrion (1990), Beu et al. (1990), Maxwell (1992), Perrilliat (1994), Stilwell (1998), Bouchet et al. (2010) and Robinson and Lee (2011); and to Pycnodontinae by Ward (1992) and Mendir et al. (2021).