Lepospondyli was named by von Zittel (1887) [Whether the taxon is extinct or not depends on exclusion (temnospondyl hypothesis) or inclusion (lepospondyl hypothesis, diphyly hypothesis) of extant amphibian groups.]. It was considered paraphyletic by Laurin et al. (2000).

It was reranked as the order Lepospondyli by Gadow (1898) and Kuhn (1946); it was synonymized subjectively with Microsauria by Hay (1902); it was synonymized subjectively with Microsauria by Jaekel (1911); it was reranked as the subclass Lepospondyli by Daly (1973) and Carroll (1988); it was reranked as the subclass Lepospondylia by Haubold (1974); it was misspelled as Lepospondylia by Moodie (1916) and Swinton (1934); it was reranked as the unranked clade Lepospondyli by Gardiner (1982), Laurin et al. (2000) and Huttenlocker et al. (2013).

It was assigned to Stegocephali by Gadow (1898); to Stegocephali by von Zittel (1887) and Swinton (1934); to Stegocephalia by Kuhn (1946); to Amphibia by Moodie (1916), Daly (1973), Haubold (1974) and Carroll (1988); to Amphibia by Gardiner (1982) and Laurin et al. (2000); and to Tetrapoda by Huttenlocker et al. (2013).