 Since the localities of Cope and Case were only a few kilometers apart, the two taxa were synonymized into "Desmatosuchus haplocerus", the initial type species of the genus.A revision of "Desmatosuchus" by Parker (2008) found the lectotype of "Episcoposaurus haplocerus" to be referable to "Desmatosuchus" but indeterminate at the species level.Therefore, "E. haplocerus" was considered to be a "nomen dubium" and "D. spurensis" was named the type species of the genus.