"endothiodon" was first discovered by richard owen in 1876 in the karoo region of beaufort group, south africa based on a skull and mandible. the genus was described based on the anterior portion of a snout and the corresponding part of the dentary, creating an upturned beak. several more specimens have since been collected, many of them in the beaufort group in south africa, it is here that the first partial skeleton was discovered by broom in 1915. in the 1970s a skull and lower jaw was discovered in brazil. the specimen was originally assigned to the genus "endothiodon". boos later reexamined the specimen and confirmed this assignment which marked "endothiodon" as the first permian dicynodont to be found in south america.