[1] It has been nicknamed "BoarCroc" by Paul Sereno and Hans Larsson, who first described the genus in a monograph published in ZooKeys in 2009 along with other Saharan crocodyliformes such as Anatosuchus and Laganosuchus.

Another unique characteristic of Kaprosuchus is the presence of large, rugose horns formed from the squamosal and parietal bones that project posteriorly from the skull.

In Kaprosuchus many teeth are hypertrophied and labiolingually (laterally) compressed, unlike those of other crocodyliforms with similarly shallow snouts, which are usually subconical and of moderate length.

These include the obliteration of all but the posterior portion of the internasal suture; a laterally facing rugose external articular fossa; the positioning of the jaw joint below the posterior maxillary teeth; a deep, anterodorsally oriented mandibular symphysis; a vertically descending ectopterygoid that is slightly inset from the lateral margin of the jugal; a flared choanal septum forming an articular foot for the palatine; and the hornlike dorsal projection of the external rim of the squamosal (although this is much more developed in Kaprosuchus than Mahajangasuchus).

This is unlike many other neosuchians, including extant crocodilians, in which the orbits are positioned dorsally as an adaptation to aquatic predation where the head can be held underwater while the eyes remain above the surface.

The enlarged caniniforms are sharp-edged and relatively straight, unlike the fluted, subconical, recurved teeth of aquatic crocodyliforms.