Fossil material found from the Annero and Jydegård Formations in Skåne, Sweden and on the island of Bornholm, Denmark, have been referred to as a mesoeucrocodylian, and possibly represent the genus Pholidosaurus.

[1] An early description of the genus by Lydekker (1888) mentioned that the orbit is slightly smaller than the supratemporal fossa, the nasals reach the premaxillae, and the vomer appears on the palate.

[2] Pholidosaurus decipiens was erected for a partial cranium, NHMUK 28432, that was originally assigned to the new genus and species Petrosuchus laevidens by Richard Owen in 1878.

The species name decipiens was coined in reference to Owen's oversight, and Petrosuchus is now considered a junior synonym of Goniopholis simus.

[5][12] In an SVPCA abstract, Smith et al. (2016) noted that Pholidosaurus purbeckensis is not congeneric with the type species, and instead is closely related to Fortignathus and members of Dyrosauridae.

Buckley and Brochu (1999) concluded that Pholidosaurus, Sokotosuchus, Dyrosauridae, and Thalattosuchia formed a longirostrine clade that was the sister taxon to Crocodylia.

[20] Jouve et al. (2006) concluded that Pholidosaurus was closely related thalattosuchians were also included within the family, which would be considered paraphyletic without them.

Jouve et al. (2006), like Buckley and Brochu (1999), attributed this result to phylogenetic problems that exist among longirostrine crocodylomorphs due to similarities in their morphology.