Considerado un sinónimo menor de Gila elegans Baird & Girard, 1853
- Gilbert, Carter R.. 1998. "Type catalog of Recent and fossil North American Freshwater fishes: families Cyprinidae, Catostomidae, Ictaluridae, Centrarchidae and Elassomatidae". Florida Museum of Natural History, Special Publication No. 1. 1-284 (ffm00083)
Descripción original como Gila emoryi:
- Baird, Spencer F. & C.F. Girard. 1853. "Descriptions of new species of fishes collected by Mr. John H. Clark, on the U. S. and Mexican Boundary Survey, under Lt. Col. Jas. D. Graham". Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. 6:387-390 (ffm04562)