This species was described in 1986, by the great Costa Rican naturalist Luis Diego Gómez Pignataro. The specific epithet honors his mother, la Señora Lalita Pignataro Granata. In the protologue, Gómez stated that Elaphoglossum lalitae belongs to section Decorata Mickel & Atehortúa, a group that was previously comprised of a single species (i.e., E. decoratum). However, preliminary molecular data and spore morphology (see SEM images here) are showing that this remarkable species is not related to E. decoratum at all; it belongs to section Elaphoglossum s.s. instead.