The genus was named and described in 2010 by Brian Andres, James Matthew Clark and Xu Xing. The type species is Sericipterus wucaiwanensis. The generic name is derived from Latin sericum, "silk", a reference to the Silk Route, and from a Latinised Greek pteron, "wing". The specific name refers to the Wucaiwan area, itself meaning "five-colour bay" because of the many-coloured layers.