Woodwardia nigra was named by Brongniart (1885). Its type specimen is MNHN.F.R51049, an exoskeleton, and it is an impression. Its type locality is Commentry (MNHN Brongniart coll), which is in a Gzhelian lacustrine deltaic shale in the Commentry Shales Formation of France. It is the type species of Mischoptera.

It was recombined as Mischoptera nigra by Brongniart (1894), Handlirsch (1906), Lameere (1917), Carpenter (1951), Carpenter and Richardson (1968), Carpenter (1992).