Criocephalosaurus (Greek for “ram head lizard”) is an extinct genus of tapinocephalian therapsids that lived in Southern Africa during the Guadalupian epoch of the Permian.

[2] Criocephalus vanderbyli was the first discovered species of the genus and was named by Broom in 1928 following discovery of a weathered skull cap by W. Van der Byl at the Abrahamskraal Formation of the Karoo Basin in South Africa.

[6] The genus name Criocephalosaurus was derived from the Greek words krios (ram),  kephalos (head), and sauros (lizard).

[1][4] The braincase of these animals lies very far posteriorly and features well ossified sidewalls and dorsally closed fenestra between the otic and sphenoidal regions.

[4] Another characteristic feature of Criocephalosaurus is a small interorbital region and orbits positioned more anteriorally on the skull in comparison to other tapinocephalids.

[9] The well ossified frontoparietal head shield present in these therapsids is formed from lateral expansion of the parietal and an increase in supraorbital bone depth coupled with a lack of muscle attachment on the temporal roof.

However, results from closely related specimens such as Moschops and Struthiocephalus whaitsi may provide insight into the potential bone histology of Criocephalosaurus.

[12] The thick cortex observed in herbivorous dionocephalians is formed from large and interconnected laminar vascular canals which are closely compacted in a concentric arrangement.

[12] Criocephalosaurus belongs within the major therapsid clade Dinocephalia which can be split into two subclades, the carnivorous Anteosauria and herbivorous Tapinocephalia.

[14][5] Day and Rubidge proposed a division of the Tapinocephalus AZ into two subzones in 2020 based on the faunal difference in the upper and lower parts of the assemblage zone.

[14] Criocephalosaurus gunyankaensis is known from the middle Madumabisa Mudstone Formation in the mid-Zambezi Basin of Zimbabwe which is associated with the Tapinocephalus AZ in South Africa.