The type species Silphedosuchus orenburgensis was described in 1977 on the basis of a single holotype skull from Orenburg Oblast.

[1] Silphedosuchus was found in the Rassypnaya locality of Orenburg Oblast, dating back to the Olenekian stage of the Early Triassic.

This layer was deposited in a large floodplain that covered much of European Russia during the Early Triassic.

At the Rassypnaya locality, a lens of coarser sand, presumably deposited by an ancient river, cuts through the finer-grained sandstone.

Characters that distinguish Silphedosuchus from Ericiolacerta include a narrow contact between the palatine and vomer bones on the roof of the mouth, a contact between the vomer and the maxilla that is positioned farther forward, and very wide buccal or cheek teeth.