| Named By: | Richard Owen in 1876 |
| Time Period: | Wuchiapingian, 259.8-254.1 Ma |
| Location: | India. South Africa. Zambia |
| Size: | 33 centimetres long |
| Diet: | Invertebrates |
| Fossil(s): | Many specimens |
| Classification: | | Chordata | Synapsida | Therapsida | Anomodontia | Dicynodontia | |
Cistecephalus is an extinct genus of dicynodont therapsid from the Late Permian of southern Africa (South Africa and Zambia). It was a small, specialised, burrowing dicynodont, possibly with habits similar to a modern mole. The head was flattened and wedge-shaped, the body long, and the forelimbs very strong, with similarities in structure to the forelimb of modern burrowing mammals.
It was one of the first genera of dicynodonts to be described, by Richard Owen, in 1876.
Cistecephalus could reach up to 60 centimetres (24 in) in length.