The pertinent fossil remains date back to the early to middle Norian stage, and is widely regarded as the oldest known neotheropod.

[1] The type species, C. arizonensis, was formally named and described by Adrian Hunt, Spencer G. Lucas, Andrew B. Heckert, Robert M. Sullivan and Martin Lockley in 1998.

The holotype specimen UCMP 34498 was discovered in the Placerias quarry of the Bluewater Creek Formation of Arizona, from the Norian stage of the Late Triassic period in 1934, It wasn't named until 1998 by Hunt and colleagues.

[5] The review by Nesbitt et al. in 2007, revealed that a specific feature of the ankle (the ventral astragalar margin) was found to be straight, and is indistinguishable from that of Coelophysis bauri.

[1][6] A reassessment of the holotype UCMP 34498 of Camposaurus arizoniensis by Ezcurra and Brusatte revealed two autapomorphies, thereby firmly establishing this material as a valid genus and species.