Perhaps the most distinctive features were two enlarged canine teeth that were so big (12 centimetres (4.7 in) long) they almost protruded beyond the lower jaw.

Despite being known from a large number of specimens from the Karoo Basin, Beaufort West (Tropidostoma/Cistecephalus Assemblage Zone), the species remains poorly known.

Watson and Romer placed Gorgonops and Scymnognathus in two different families, while Sigogneau-Russell placed the two species in the same genus, and considers G. whaitsi a more primitive (less derived) form.

[5] Synonyms: Scymnognathus whaitsi (Broom, 1912) A large specimen known from an incomplete and flattened skull about 35 centimetres (14 in) long.

Synonyms: Gorgonognathus longifrons (Haughton, 1915) A flattened, incomplete, medium-sized skull, probably a juvenile of either G. torvus or G. whaitsi Synonyms: Leptotrachelus eupachygnathus (Watson, 1921); Leptotracheliscops eupachygnathus (Watson, 1921) A large, incomplete and flattened skull, from Chiweta Beds, Nyassaland.

[6] Synonyms: Chiwetasaurus dixeyi (Haughton, 1926) A large (about 35 centimetres (14 in) long), incomplete skull, with a high snout and narrower in the rear than other species, from the "High Tapinocephalus zone" (earlier than the other species, most probably Pristerognathus Assemblage Zone) Synonyms: Pachyrhinos kaiseri (Broili & Schroeder, 1934) Below is a cladogram from Gebauer's 2007 phylogenetic analysis.

[7] Aloposaurus Cyonosaurus Aelurosaurus Scylacognathus Eoarctops Gorgonops Njalila Lycaenops Arctognathus Inostrancevia Aelurognathus Rubidgea Sycosaurus Clelandina