Paracrocodylomorpha was named by paleontologist J. Michael Parrish in 1993,[1] although the group is now considered to encompass more reptiles than his original definition intended.

The most recent definition of Paracrocodylomorpha, as defined by Sterling Nesbitt in 2011, is "the least inclusive clade containing Poposaurus and Crocodylus niloticus (the Nile crocodile).

[3] Most groups of paracrocodylomorphs became extinct at the end of the Triassic period, with the exception of the crocodylomorphs, from which crocodylians such as crocodiles and alligators evolved in the latter part of the Mesozoic.

Nesbitt found that his most parsimonious results indicated that this genus was the sister taxon of the paracrocodylomorphs, rather than an internal component of the group.

However, due to its crushed skeleton obscuring crucial anatomical details, it is also conceivable that Ticinosuchus may actually belong inside Paracrocodylomorpha pending new info.

[3] This result has already been recovered by Da-Silva et al. (2019), which places Ticinosuchus as the basalmost loricatan while also sometimes having the recently described suchian Mandasuchus lie outside of the group.

[5] Under Nesbitt (2011)'s revised interpretation of the clade's components, only two unambiguous synapomorphies (derived distinguishing traits) were found for Paracrocodylomorpha.

[3] Various paracrocodylomorphs share a few other derived traits, although it is not entirely clear if these features evolved precisely at the base of Paracrocodylomorpha and thus characterize the group.

Advanced poposauroids lack an outward-leaning ilium, but also possess a specialized supraacetabular crest which forces the acetabulum to face downward, resulting in the retention of a 'pillar-erect' posture.

[3] According to Parrish (1993), this clade was nested within Rauisuchia, a group of crurotarsans that once included only extinct Triassic forms but is now generally regarded as paraphyletic.

For example, a 2007 phylogenetic study by Weinbaum & Hungerbühler, found the rauisuchian families Rauisuchidae and Prestosuchidae to be more closely related to Crocodylomorpha than was Poposauridae.

Avemetatarsalia Ornithosuchidae Gracilisuchus Turfanosuchus Revueltosaurus Aetosauria Ticinosuchus Poposauroidea Prestosuchus Saurosuchus Batrachotomus Fasolasuchus Rauisuchus Polonosuchus Postosuchus Crocodylomorpha