All the species in this genus inhabit small, transient rock pools, mainly pools containing clear rain water after heavy, seasonal rainfall. Like most inhabitants of vernal pools Branchipodopsis are adapted to the associated unpredictability and drastically changing conditions peculiar to such environments. Rock pools of this nature occur in various regions of the Southern African subcontinent, including mountain ranges in the Drakensberg, the Western Cape and the Eastern Free State. They also occur in arid regions such as South-Eastern Botswana.