Rutiodon carolinensis is the most well-described species of phytosaur in eastern North America, though its validity as a natural taxon has been questioned.

Like other phytosaurs, Rutiodon strongly resembled a crocodile, but its nostrils were positioned far back on the head, close to the eyes, instead of at the tip of the snout.

It was originally named by Ebenezer Emmons in 1856, based on fossils from the Deep River coal field (Cumnock Formation)[5] of North Carolina.

[8] Many skulls and partial skeletons of R. carolinensis have been discovered near Egypt, North Carolina, and are now housed and displayed at the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH).

Isaac Lea named several phytosaur species from Pennsylvania shortly before Emmons' description: Clepsysaurus pennsylvanicus (in 1851) and Centemodon sulcatus (in 1856).

Clepsysaurus and Centemodon are most commonly considered dubious and undiagnostic, and their fossils have variably been referred to Rutiodon, Phytosaurus, or Phytosauria incertae sedis by different authors.

[5] Phytosaur fossils tentatively referred to R. carolinensis were unearthed in 1959 in Fairfax County, Virginia, near Dulles International Airport which was still under construction.

[11] Fossils of a second species, R. manhattanensis, were discovered in 1910 from "red sandy marl" (Stockton Formation)[6][8] below the Palisades near Fort Lee, New Jersey.

The fossil is a partially articulated posterior torso, including the hip, hind limbs (missing the feet), and portions of the tail and scutes.

R. manhattanensis is also noticeably larger in size: Huene remarked that the holotype has the largest femur he had ever observed in phytosaurs, at a length of 43-44 cm (17 inches).

[9][13] Several papers in the late 20th century extended the scope of the genus Rutiodon, allowing it to encompass phytosaur species from both the eastern and western United States.

A 2018 analysis of phytosaur relationships did support a placement for Rutiodon carolinensis as the sister taxon of Angistorhinus in a clade at the base of Mystriosuchinae.

[13] Later papers describing Volcanosuchus and Colossosuchus, two basal mystriosuchines from the Tiki Formation of India, did not support a sister group relationship between Angistorhinus and Rutiodon.