Pasquiaornis hardiei was named by Tokaryk et al. (1997). Its type specimen is SMNH P2077.117, a limb element (left tarsometatarsus), and it is a 3D body fossil. Its type locality is Carrot River Bonebed, which is in a Cenomanian marginal marine conglomerate/claystone in the Belle Fourche Formation of Canada. It is the type species of Pasquiaornis.