Only one species is known, N. geminidens, described in 2018 from a single specimen including a complete skull and some postcranial remains, discovered in the red beds of Kotelnich, Kirov Oblast.

Phylogenetic analyzes published since its official description consider it as the most basal gorgonopsian known, due to several anatomical characteristics wo are not present in more or less derived genera.

The presence of large therocephalians and the smaller size of Nochnitsa and its close relative Viatkogorgon indicate that the latter occupied comparatively small predatory roles.

The only known specimen of Nochnitsa, cataloged KPM 310, was discovered in 1994 by the Russian paleontologist Albert J. Khlyupin in the Red Beds of Kotelnich, located along the Vyatka River in Kirov Oblast, European Russia.

[1] In 2018, paleontologists Christian F. Kammerer and Vladimir Masyutin named new genera of gorgonopsians and therocephalians discovered at Kotelnitch in two articles in the scientific journal PeerJ.

Its name was intended as a parallel to the Gorgons, similarly hag-like creatures from Greek mythology, which are the namesake of many genera within Gorgonopsia and the clade as a whole.

The scapula is elongated, narrow and weakly curved, comparable to that of other gorgonopsians of similar size like Cyonosaurus, but different from the anteroposteriorly broadened scapular spines of Inostrancevia.

[1] Nochnitsa is currently the most basal gorgonopsian known, and its position is justified by several plesiomorphic criteria, such as the lowered mandibular symphysis, the low and inclined front of the dentary bone (similar to those of therocephalians), as well as a surface and a row of elongated teeth.

These mudstones were possibly deposited from suspension in standing water bodies on floodplains or shallow ephemeral lakes, that remained flooded for short periods of time, but the exact environment has not yet been determined, due to the lack of a primary structure of the sediments.

Apart from its close relative Viatkogorgon, other therapsids from the locality include the anomodont Suminia and the therocephalians Chlynovia, Gorynychus, Karenites, Perplexisaurus, Scalopodon, Scalopodontes, and Viatkosuchus.

This is further confirmed by the fact that several gorgonopsians having appeared after the extinction of the end of the Guadalupian reach considerably larger sizes than the two previously mentioned genera.

[2][4] This type of ecological niche is also similar to that seen in the Pristerognathus Assemblage Zone in the Karoo Basin, South Africa, prior to the main round of gorgonopsian diversification there.