Malerisaurus, seen as a diapsid skull, shows primitive and advanced facies in its unossified laterosphenoid, absence of antorbital and mandibular fenestrae, gracile form, primitive girdles, elongated cervicals and absence of dermal armour.

Chatterjee (1980) assigned it to the suborder Prolacertiformes, which currently represents four families: Sharovipterygidae, Protorosauridae, Prolacertidae and Tanystropheidae.

It was collected in the Otis Chalk Quarry 2 (TMM 31099 locality) from the Colorado City Formation, Chinle Group, dating to the early Carnian stage of the Late Triassic, about 228–227.5 million years ago.

[5] In 2021, Nesbitt et al. once again looked at Malerisaurus, and found it to be an early-diverging, but late surviving, carnivorous azendohsaurid.

[1] The specific name of M. langstoni honors the American paleontologist and professor Wann Langston, Jr.[2] In their 2024 review of Malerisaurus, Sengupta, Ezcurra & Bandyopadhyay analyzed its phylogenetic placement within Azendohsauridae.