The holotype material (MLP 26–39, Museo de La Plata, La Plata, Argentina) was collected from the Cerro Barcino Formation, Cañadón Grande, Departamento Paso de Indios in the Chubut Province of Argentina and consists of an incomplete snout, including the premaxillae, portions of both maxillas, the right and left dentary, many teeth, a fragment of the left splenial, and parts of the supradentaries.

[1] The taxon has long been considered a nomen dubium, owing to its fragmentary nature and some doubt as to its precise geographic and stratigraphic origins (see Tykoski et Rowe, 2004, p. 50).

[2] However, a recent redescription of the type material by Rauhut (2004) has shed some light on these questions and seems to establish the taxonomic validity of Genyodectes serus, the only species referred to the genus.

[3] Over the last decade, the holotype has been variously referred to as a megalosaurid, a tyrannosaurid, Theropoda incertae sedis, and a possible abelisaurid (perhaps even a senior synonym of Abelisaurus).

[3] Rauhut diagnoses Genyodectes serus as follows:[6] "Differs from all theropods with the possible exception of Ceratosaurus in that the premaxillary teeth are arranged in an overlapping en-echelon pattern and the longest maxillary tooth crowns are longer apicobasally than the minimal dorsoventral depth of the mandible.