Fossils of the genus were found in the La Peña Member of the Ischigualasto Formation in the Ischigualasto-Villa Unión Basin.

The bones were found at approximately the same level as a 231.4 million year old ash layer, indicating it lived during the early Carnian of the Late Triassic.

[1] Panphagia is currently known from holotype PVSJ 874, the disarticulated remains of one partially grown individual of about 1.30 metres (4.3 ft) long.

Yet the fossils also exhibited similar features to those of Eoraptor, an early omnivorous sauropodomorph, including hollow bones, sublanceolate teeth, and overall proportions.

[2] The teeth of Panphagia indicate a possible omnivorous diet, transitional in form between the mostly carnivorous theropods and the herbivorous sauropodomorphs.