Pagurus was named by Fabricius (1775) [Sepkoski's age data: K Albi-l R Sepkoski's reference number: 961]. It is extant. It is the type genus of Paguroidea, Pagurii.

It was assigned to Agonata by Fabricius (1775); to Sparidae by Steurbaut (1982); to Pagurinae by Whetstone and Collins (1982), Müller (1984); to Sparinae by Steurbaut (1984); to Diogenidae by Karasawa (1993); to Decapoda by Sepkoski (2002); to Sparidae by Vicens and Rodríguez-Perea (2003); and to Paguridae by Rathbun (1926), Rathbun (1935), Muller and Collins (1991), Feldmann and Keys (1992), Beschin et al. (1994), Schweitzer and Feldmann (2001), Collins (2002), Boyko (2002), van Bakel et al. (2003), Garassino et al. (2004), De Angeli and Beschin (2008), De Angeli et al. (2010), Schweitzer et al. (2010), Beschin et al. (2012), Ferratges (2022), Schweitzer et al. (2023).