Firstly described by Beccari (1877) as Bagnisia crocea. After Bentham and Hooker (1883) had already suggested to include Geomitra into Bagnisia (but still list Geomitra as separate), von Müller (1891) merged Bagnisia with Thismia. Smith (1909) followed his suggestion and transferred Bagnisia crocea to Thismia crocea, which was not formally done by von Müller (1891). The genus Sarcosiphon was already synonymized with Bagnisia by Bentham and Hooker (1883), but Schlechter (1921) reactivated Sarcosiphon and subsummized Bagnisia, Geomitra and parts of Thismia under this name, mainly due to the mitra-like connected inner perianth lobes. The name Thismia crocea is accepted by Kiew (1999). Jonker (1938, 1948) also accepts Thismia crocea as a species, but Geomitra, too, as a genus with one species (G. clavigera, see page on Thismia clavigera), characterized by long filiform appendages at the inner perianth lobes. Thismia crocea occurs in West New Guinea/Indonesia.
Jonker (1938) synonymized Thismia versteegii Smith with T. crocea, although the type material of T. crocea is lost. Larsen (1965), comparing the descriptions and drawings of Smith (1911) and Beccari (1877), is not convinced by the decision of Jonker (1938) and prefers to keep T. versteegii separate. However, the two online resources on acceptance of names, Plant of the World online (POWO) and World Flora Online (WFO), both see T. versteegii as a synonym to T. crocea.