Limatula was named by Wood (1839) [Sepkoski's age data: Tr m R]. It is extant. Its type is Pecten subauriculata.

It was reranked as Radula (Limatula) by Stoliczka (1871); it was reranked as Lima (Limatula) by Wilckens (1910) and Popenoe (1937).

It was assigned to Radula by Stoliczka (1871); to Lima by Wilckens (1910) and Popenoe (1937); to Pterioida by Sepkoski (2002); to Limatulinae by Bouchet et al. (2010); and to Limidae by Vokes (1980), Woodring (1982), Moore (1987), Beu et al. (1990), Maxwell (1992), Lamprell and Whitehead (1992), Wienrich (1999), Todd (2001), Marquet (2002), Spencer et al. (2004), El Qot (2006), Robinson and Lee (2011) and Ros-Franch et al. (2014).