Cistecephalidae is an extinct family of dicynodont therapsids from the Late Permian of South Africa, India and Zambia.

[1] Cistecephalids are thought to have had a fossorial or burrowing lifestyle, with adaptations such as broad skulls, strong forelimbs, and squat bodies.

Most species, with the exception of Kembawacela, lacked tusks, but sexually dimorphic supraorbital ridges were present.

[3][4] Cistecephalids had boxy, broad skulls with relatively laterally directed temporal openings, a result of a considerably broadened intertemporal region.

Phylogeny following Kammerer et al. 2016:[1][3] Diictodon Eosimops Prosictodon Robertia Emydops Dicynodontoides Kombuisia Digalodon Myosaurus Sauroscaptor Cistecephalus Cistecephaloides Kawingasaurus Bidentalia