Petrolemur brevirostre was named by Tong (1979). Its type specimen is IVPP V5298, a maxilla (left maxilla with associated C-M3), and it is a 3D body fossil. Its type locality is Datang commune, IVPP Loc. 73059, which is in a Paleocene terrestrial horizon in the Nongshan Formation of China. It is the type species of Petrolemur.