In 2000, Spencer and Benton found Contritosaurus to be junior synonym of Phaanthosaurus. C. simus Ivakhnenko, 1974 which is known from the holotypePIN 3355/1, a partial skull with right mandible from the same location, and from three paratypes, was recombined as P. simus. They also found that the second species of Contritosaurus, C. convector (PIN 3357/1, a mandible) is a junior synonym of P. simus.[4] Recent cladistic analyses by Juan Carlos Cisneros, 2008 and Mark J. Macdougall and Sean P. Modesto, 2011 accepted this synonymy.[5][6]
Its bone microanatomy suggests a terrestrial lifestyle,[7] as for most early amniotes.[8]
^P. K. Chudinov; B. P. Vjushkov (1956). "New Data on Small Cotylosaurs from the Permian and Triassic of the USSR". Doklady Akademii Nauk SSSR. 108 (3): 547–550 [In Russian].
^Ivakhnenko, M. F. (1974). "New data on Early Triassic procolophonids of the USSR". Paleontological Journal. 8: 346–351.
^P. S. Spencer & M. J. Benton (2000). "Procolophonids from the Permo-Triassic of Russia". In M. J. Benton; M. A. Shishkin; D. M. Unwin & E. N. Kurochkin (eds.). The Age of Dinosaurs in Russia and Mongolia. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 160–176. ISBN978-0-521-55476-3.
^Mark J. Macdougall; Sean P. Modesto (2011). "New information on the skull of the Early Triassic parareptile Sauropareion anoplus, with a discussion of tooth attachment and replacement in procolophonids". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 31 (2): 270–278. Bibcode:2011JVPal..31..270M. doi:10.1080/02724634.2011.549436. S2CID84934974.