The first known specimens of the Chesterfield Island stingaree were caught during a series of research cruises undertaken in the Coral Sea by France and Australia in the 1990s. The species was described by Bernard Séret and Peter Last in a 2003 issue of the scientific journal Cybium, and named for Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD) scientist Bertrand Richer de Forges. The type specimen is a long adult male collected by the research vessel Coriolis. This species is closely related to the New Caledonian stingaree (U. neocaledoniensis), and also bears morphological similarities to the mitotic stingaree (U. mitosis).
