The family was originally named solely for the eponymous Azendohsaurus, marking out its distinctiveness from other allokotosaurs,[1] but as of 2022[update] the family now includes four other genera: the basal genus Pamelaria, the large horned herbivore Shringasaurus,[2] and two carnivorous genera grouped into the subfamily-level subclade Malerisaurinae, Malerisaurus and Puercosuchus, and potentially also the dubious genus Otischalkia.

[5] Azendohsaurids were robust quadrupeds with sprawled limbs, characterised by their long necks and proportionately small heads, and reached body sizes of up to 3 or 4 metres (9.8 or 13.1 ft) in length in the largest species.

[1][4][6] Azendohsaurids lack a prenarial process, the bony splint of the premaxilla that otherwise divides the two external nares in typical reptile skulls, giving them a single fused (confluent) opening for their nostrils.

Azendohsaurids had a sprawling gait like other early archosauromorphs, although their shoulder joint faces back as well as out to the sides, suggesting they may have been able to hold their forelimbs closer to their body.

Their bodies are deep, ranging from relatively narrow-bodied in Pamelaria to barrel-shaped in Azendohsaurus, and their tails are proportionally shorter and stockier compared to other archosauromorphs.