The paired bosses are separated by a 3–7 cm (1–3 in) wide gap of flat, featureless bone between them on top of the snout where the premaxilla and the nasals meet.

[1] Ufudocyclops is also characterised by the unique X-shaped intertemporal bar on the roof of the skull between each temporal fenestra, where the large jaw muscles attached.

The bar is broad at the front just behind the eyes and at the back of the skull, while the middle is pinched inwards between the two temporal fenestra, creating the characteristic 'X'-shape.

The eponymous pineal foramen on the roof of the skull is also proportionately "enormous" (6 cm (2.4 in) long), implying Ufudocyclops had a very well-developed parietal "third eye".

[1] The first specimens of Ufudocyclops (BP/1/5530 and BP/1/5531) were discovered by palaeontologist P. John Hancox while fossil collecting in the southern Karoo Basin near Sterkstroom in the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa in an expedition to assess the stratigraphic range of the dicynodont Kannemeyeria.

Together with his colleague Bruce S. Rubidge, the skulls were reported in a research letter to South African Journal of Science in February 1994, where the fossils were recognised as a third distinct genus of dicynodont from the Cynognathus Assemblage Zone (AZ), following Kannemeyeria and Kombuisia.

[3] Hancox and Rubidge later briefly described the specimens in August 1996, and then again in more detail in May 2013, referring them both times to the Tanzanian dicynodont Angonisaurus after favourably comparing their skulls.

The species is named in honour of Mr. Pepson "Pepsi" Mukanela as recognition for his skills in fossil preparation at the Evolutionary Studies Institute, including his work on the holotype, who had recently retired before its publication.

[4][5] The poor preservation of these specimens made identification difficult, and it wasn't until the discovery of the nearly complete holotype skull that the distinctiveness of Ufudocyclops could be properly appreciated.

Interestingly, while not yet recognised as their own genus, the referred specimens of Ufudocyclops were correctly determined to belong to the family Stahleckeriidae, contrasting with associations of Angonisaurus with Shansiodontidae at the time.

[4] Ufudocyclops is distinguished from other kannemeyeriiform dicynodonts, as well as Angonisaurus, by its X-shaped intertemporal bar and deep triangular depression behind the pineal foramen, as well as by the extension of the jugal beneath the eyes and the two distinctly separated nasal bosses.

A simplified cladogram, an excerpt from the full analysis, focused on the relationships of Ufudocyclops within Kannemeyeriiformes is shown below:[1] Jimusaria Gordonia Rhinodicynodon Tetragonias Vinceria Shansiodon "Kannemeyeriidae" Dinodontosaurus Angonisaurus Placeriinae Stahleckeria Ufudocyclops Sangusaurus Eubrachiosaurus Ischigualastia Jachaleria Their results were generally similar to previous studies, although notably within Kannemeyeriiformes the family Shansiodontidae was found to be paraphyletic.

[1][10] Because specimens of Ufudocyclops were once thought to belong to Angonisaurus, it was believed that the Ufudocyclops–Cricodon Subzone and the Manda Beds in Tanzania were part of a larger shared fauna distributed throughout Africa during the Middle Triassic, even extending into Antarctica.

[5][12] However, the distinction of Ufudocyclops from Angonisaurus suggests that dicynodonts in Middle Triassic Africa were more divided than had been assumed, separated into different localised faunas and habitats.

[1] The discovery of Ufudocyclops in the uppermost Karoo Basin also adds to a growing number of stahleckeriids from the Middle Triassic, along with the African genera Zambiasaurus and Sangusaurus.

Stahleckeriid dicynodonts were mostly known from the Late Triassic, and had been suggested to have been a 'slow fuse' lineage that radiated only after the older families of kannemeyeriiforms, such as Kannemeyeriidae and Shansiodontidae, had already gone extinct.