The genus Cylindera Westwood, 1831 initially included only Palearctic species, but in Rivalier’s (1954) revision of Cicindela (s.l.) the genus was amended to include American species that possessed aedeagi with similarly wound flagella. Rivalier (1954) noted that there were a number of inconsistencies and “aberrant” species, but did not consider it necessary to create a separate genus for the American species.

In their comprehensive molecular phylogeny of the Cicindelinae, Gough et al. (2019) recovered Cylindera as polyphyletic, with each clade found in a particular biogeographic realm. A monophyletic clade of Nearctic species was part of a larger Nearctic endemic clade that also included Ellipsoptera and Dromochorus. Duran & Gough (2019) described the previously unnamed lineage as the new genus Parvindela Duran & Gough, 2019.

The species here was formally placed in the new combination Parvindela terricola (Say, 1824) by Duran & Gough (2019: 4).
 
Duran DP, Gough HM (2019) Unifying systematics and taxonomy: Nomenclatural changes to Nearctic tiger beetles (Coleoptera: Carabidae: Cicindelinae) based on phylogenetics, morphology and life history. Insecta Mundi 727: 1–12.

Gough HM, Duran DP, Kawahara AY, Toussaint EFA (2019) A comprehensive molecular phylogeny of tiger beetles (Coleoptera, Carabidae, Cicindelinae). Systematic Entomology 44(2): 305–321. doi:10.1111/syen.12324.