Delphinodon dividum was named by True (1912). Its type specimen is USNM 7278, a skull, and it is a 3D body fossil. Its type locality is Chesapeake Beach, south of, Zones 3-6, which is in a Burdigalian offshore siltstone in the Calvert Formation of Maryland. It is the type species of Brevirostrodelphis.

It was recombined as Brevirostrodelphis dividum by Godfrey and Lambert (2023).