Desmatosuchinae is a major subfamily of aetosaurs within the clade Desmatosuchia.

[1] It is a stem-based taxon defined as all aetosaurs more closely related to Desmatosuchus than to Stagonolepis,[2] Aetosaurus, or Paratypothorax.

[1] The clade Desmatosuchinae has often been restricted to a few closely related aetosaurs with spiny armor, such as Desmatosuchus, Longosuchus, and Lucasuchus.

[3] It was later expanded to include a number of Stagonolepis-like aetosaurs with less specialized armor.

Under this more expansive usage, the strongly-supported clade encompassing "traditional" desmatosuchines (sensu stricto) was given a new name, Desmatosuchini.