The family Traversodontidae was erected by Friedrich von Huene in 1936 for cynodonts first found in São Pedro do Sul in Paleorrota, Brazil.

Because of their complexity, postcanine teeth are the primary means of identifying and distinguishing different species of traversodonts.

The tooth rows of the upper jaws are inset while the maxillae and zygomatic arches extend outward, suggesting that traversodonts may have had cheeks.

Below is a cladogram from that analysis:[2] Cynognathus Diademodon Trirachodon Cricodon Langbergia Andescynodon Pascualgnathus Arctotraversodon Boreogomphodon Nanogomphodon Massetognathus Dadadon Santacruzodon Gomphodontosuchus Menadon Protuberum Exaeretodon Scalenodontoides While most traversodonts were relatively large cynodonts, particularly Scalenodontoides with extrapolated 60cm skull making it potentially the largest nonmammalian cynodont,[3] some Late Triassic European forms like Maubeugia and Habayia were very small.

These traversodonts lived during the Rhaetian stage of the latest Triassic when rising sea levels divided western Europe into an island archipelago.