Members of this genus were likely carnivores, around 2.7 to 3 meters (9 feet) long, with ziphodont (steak knife-like) teeth and rows of bony plates (osteoderms) along their back.

However, Nundasuchus had an upright stance, with legs situated directly underneath the body, as with various other early pseudosuchians (such as "rauisuchians" and aetosaurs) but unlike modern crocodilians.

This classification scheme is justified by the presence of "staggered" osteoderms, heart-shaped "spine tables", and a groove on the femoral head.

Regardless of these hypotheses, it is clear that Nundasuchus represents a previously unknown group of reptiles with a mixture of features both plesiomorphic and derived with respect to suchian archosaurs.

[1] NMT RB48 was discovered by Dr. Sterling Nesbitt in 2007[5] at an isolated outcrop approximately 100 square meters in area known as locality Z41, along with remains of other archosaurs and rhynchosaurs.

These localities, located between the Ndatira and Njalila rivers, belong to the fluviolacustrine mudstone-sandstone sequence in the middle of the Lifua Member of the Manda beds of Ruhuhu Basin in Tanzania.

Based on comparison with the better studied tetrapod fauna of Subzone C of the Cynognathus Assemblage Zone of South Africa, this member is considered to date to the Anisian stage of the early Middle Triassic.

[1] Skull material is very limited for Nundasuchus; only a right lower jaw and a right pterygoid bone (which formed part of the roof of the mouth) were preserved in the holotype.

This ventral (lower) concavity manifests in the form of a deep depression bounded by posterior (rear) and medial (inner) ridges.

Pterygoid teeth are typically absent in archosaurs, although a few avemetatarsalians (Eudimorphodon, Eoraptor, Eodromaeus) and another likely pseudosuchian (Turfanosuchus) are known to have possessed them.

[1] The jaw is typical compared to that of most carnivorous archosaurs, being low and long, with serrated, knife-like teeth set in deep sockets.

The lower edge of the lateral (outer) side of the jaw was covered in small longitudinal grooves, a feature seemingly unique to Nundasuchus among early archosaurs.

[1] The two incompletely preserved cervical (neck) vertebrae were amphicoelous (concave from both the front and the rear), with a large lateral pit near the base of the neural arch.

[1] Most of the dorsal (back) vertebrae were tall and amphicoelous, and possessed a pair of ventral keels adjacent to the midline, separated by a shallow groove.

[1] The caudals (tail vertebrae) near the hip were tall and generally similar to the dorsals, except that their zygapophyses were inclined upwards at a higher angle.

The rear portion of the coracoid extends back and curves upwards to form the lower half of the glenoid, but is not offset from the socket by a distinct notch.

[1] The proximal part of the tibia (inner shin bone) is roughly diamond-shaped in cross section, with rounded lateral and medial tubera as well as a low and indistinct forward-pointing ridge known as a cnemial crest.

These bones and their joints clearly show distinguishing features of the group Crurotarsi, which includes suchians, phytosaurs, and probably avemetatarsalians.

The generic name is derived from Swahili Language nunda meaning "predator", plus suchus from Greek soukhos, an Egyptian crocodile god.

The new specific name refers to the provincial capital of Songea, located near to the collection locality of the remains, as indicated by the Latin suffix -ensis, meaning "from".

The Brusatte et al.(2010) dataset placed it as the most basal pseudosuchian (although the name "Crurotarsi" was used for the group), less crownward (further from crocodilians) than even the phytosaurs.

Since Rauisuchia typically omits crocodylomorphs and would therefore be paraphyletic with his results, Nesbitt decided to scrap the name, replacing it with the monophyletic clade Paracrocodylomorpha.

This was justified by three traits: heart-shaped "spine tables", a groove on the proximal side of the femoral head, and "staggered" osteoderms.

[1] Nesbitt et al. (2014) questioned these results due to the fact that Nundasuchus possesses many plesiomorphic archosaurian traits (i.e. typical for very basal archosaurs) that appear to be autapomorphies (unique features), if it is truly a member of Pseudosuchia.

[1] Proterosuchus Erythrosuchus Vancleavea Proterochampsia Euparkeria Phytosauria Avemetatarsalia Ornithosuchidae Gracilisuchus Turfanosuchus Revueltosaurus Aetosauria Nundasuchus Ticinosuchus Qianosuchus Ctenosauriscidae Poposaurus Lotosaurus Shuvosauridae Prestosuchus Saurosuchus Batrachotomus Fasolasuchus Rauisuchidae Crocodylomorpha In 2016, Nundasuchus was featured in Martin Ezcurra's study of archosauromorphs, and was placed into a phylogenetic analysis similar is size and scope to Nesbitt (2011).

Heart-shaped spine tables, for example, were considered to have had an erratic distribution within Pseudosuchia, with some taxa (such as gracilisuchids) lacking them and others (i.e. phytosaurs and Batrachotomus) having them in only certain vertebrae.

Likewise, staggered dorsal osteoderms were only found to be present in Nundasuchus and Gracilisuchus, with none of the sampled paracrocodylomorphs sharing the trait.

He did concede that a groove on the femoral head is consistent with the hypothesis of Nundasuchus being close to paracrocoylomorphs, as the trait is also found in Prestosuchus and Batrachotomus.

[3] However, Ezcurra also admitted that his analysis was more focused on basal archosauromorphs and archosauriforms rather than true archosaurs, and therefore it may not be completely accurate for crownward groups such as pseudosuchians.

These genera were paracrocodyomorphs which possessed staggered osteoderms, heart-shaped spine tables, and a groove on the femoral head, therefore justifying a close relationship to Nundasuchus.