Molecular clock
Morphological studies have been inconclusive about the evolutionary relationships of the tasselled wobbegong, but overall have gauged it to be among the more derived wobbegong (Orectolobidae) species. A 2009 phylogenetic analysis based on mitochondrial and nuclear DNA found otherwise, that this species was in fact basal to all other wobbegongs except the northern wobbegong ("O. wardi"). This result supports the synonymization of "Eucrossorhinus" with "Orectolobus". Molecular clock estimation placed the speciation of the tasselled wobbegong at 11–6 Ma, coinciding with a period of significant geological rearrangement and the formation of coral reef habitats in the region.