Cirsotrema was named by Mörch (1852) [Sepkoski's age data: T Eo-m-l R Sepkoski's reference number: 123,899]. It is extant. Its type is Scalaria varicosa.

It was reranked as Scalaria (Cirsotrema) by Tate (1890); it was reranked as Scala (Cirsostrema) by Dall (1907); it was reranked as Scala (Cirsotrema) by Vredenburg (1928); it was reranked as Epitonium (Cirsotrema) by Durham (1937), Durham (1944), Hertlein and Stong (1951), Addicott (1970).

It was assigned to Scalaria by Tate (1890); to Scala by Dall (1907), Vredenburg (1928); to Epitonium by Durham (1937), Durham (1944), Hertlein and Stong (1951), Addicott (1970); to Neotaenioglossa by Sepkoski (2002); and to Epitoniidae by Harris and Palmer (1947), Olsson (1967), Maxwell (1978), Squires (1984), Dushane (1988), Wilson (1993), Todd (2001), Wienrich (2001), Harzhauser (2002), Duerr (2004), Darragh (2017), Schnetler et al. (2024).