Original description as Gerres axillaris:
- Günther, Albert C. L. G. 1864. "Report of a collection of fishes made by Messrs. Dow, Godman, and Salvin in Guatemala". Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London. 1864:144-154 (ffm00137)
Conservation: Diapterus axillaris is evaluated by the international union for the conservation of nature in the iucn red list of threatened species as (LC) least concern (2010).