The genusProtomarattiawas described in 1919 by Hayata. Recognized as an independent genus in the years immediately following its publication, in 1935 it was merged by Christensen and Tardieu-Blot into the genusArchangiopteris; they treated its single speciesProtomarattia tonkinensisas a synonym ofArchangiopteris tamdaoensis.These authors and Ching who followed them, stated that Hayata had based his genus on young specimens and that he had mistaken for a synangium the young separated sporangia which had become pressed upon drying.