Sesarmops was defined in 1970 when Serène and Soh re-organised the existing genus Sesarma.

[1] Serène and Soh defined Sesarmops as having (1) the carapace as long or longer than the width measured at the external orbital teeth, (2) the frontal margin has a deep median concavity, (3) the postfrontal lobes are prominent, (4) the external orbital tooth is clearly separated from the rest of the lateral margin by a distinct cleft, (5) with the gastric and cardiac regions well defined.

[3] S. impressa sensu lato from the West Pacific have different colouration and gonopods to those of the Indian Ocean.

[3] Comparisons of mitochondrial DNA found that S. impressus and S. imperator form a clade sister to Bresedium eurypleon and B. brevipes, indicating that Sesarmops is paraphyletic to [3].

S. mindanaoensis was found to be more distantly related than the other Pseudosesarma species (edwardsii, boucourtii, crassimarum).