Unique among aetosaurs, its osteoderms are nearly completely smooth, without strong pits or grooves.

[1] The left dorsal paramedian has a relatively high width-to-length ration (about 3.25), suggesting that Apachesuchus is a wide-bodied aetosaur within the clade Typothoracinae.

[2] The holotype and referred material of Apachesuchus were initially described by Heckert et al. (2001), who assigned them to the South American aetosaur Neoaetosauroides.

[3] However, this comparison was based on Neoaetosauroides osteoderms which had been overprepared, removing their surface texture.

In their 2012 monograph on vertebrates of the Redonda Formation, Justin Spielmann and Spencer Lucas decided that the material reported by Heckert et al. was sufficiently distinct to be recognized as a new genus and species.