Gyronema altispiralis was named by Grabau (1922) [Shansiella altispiralis Grabau in Yin 1932 Gyronema ? altispiralis]. It is a 3D body fossil. Its type locality is Locality 50. Paloukou, Paotehsien, which is in a Gzhelian carbonate shale in the Taiyuan Formation of China. It is the type species of Shansiella.

It was recombined as Shansiella altispiralis by Yin (1932), Knight et al. (1960).