English paleontologist Richard Owen later named a new genus and species, Petrophryne granulata, for a better-known skull, also from the Karoo Basin, that he suggested might be the same animal as M. stowi;[3] this synonymy was eventually accepted by other workers.

Many specimens have been found, a number of which are on blocks preserving partial to complete skeletons of multiple individuals in close association,[4] and two distinct morphotypes are evident, differing in skull width and palatal dentition.

[12] Subsequent discovery of amphibamiforms, either referred to monotaxic families such as Doleserpetontidae[13] or to Dissorophidae, has further strengthened the placement of Micropholis among dissorophoids, which has since been maintained by computer-assisted phylogenetic analyses.

However, its placement has long been perplexing because it retains numerous plesiomorphies and is usually recovered as one of the earlier diverging amphibamiforms despite being tens of millions of years younger than all other dissorophoids.

Olsoniformes Eoscopus Platyrhinops Tersomius Pasawioops Micropholis Doleserpeton Amphibamus Gerobatrachus Georgenthalia Eocaecilia Karaurus Triadobatrachus Branchiosaurus Apateon Leptorophus Schoenfelderpeton