[1][2] All specimens referred to Trochosaurus—including the three holotypes—are poorly preserved and badly worn, and mostly consist only of partial skulls representing the snout and jaws up to around the orbits.

Specimens for which the locality data is known were collected from the Prince Albert district and come from the Abrahamskraal Formation within the Capitanian-aged Tapinocephalus Assemblage Zone of the Middle Permian.

[1][2] Trochosaurus was named in 1915 by Sidney H. Haughton for the type species T. intermedius (referring to its seemingly intermediate condition between Lycosuchus and Trochosuchus) based on a single specimen, the holotype SAM-PK-2756.

Broom justified erecting the new species only on the basis of its larger size and seemingly lower number of postcanine teeth than T.

Van den Heever determined all the specimens referred to Trochosaurus lack any discernible diagnostic features beyond those now recognised for Lycosuchidae.

As such, the genus Trochosaurus and its various species are all regarded as nomen dubia by modern researchers and the specimens themselves only represent Lycosuchidae incertae sedis.