| Nyaphulia | |
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| Digital renders of the snout and skull roof of the holotype of Nyaphulia oelofseni (NMQR 2913) | |
Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Clade: | Synapsida |
| Clade: | Therapsida |
| Suborder: | †Anomodontia |
| Clade: | †Dicynodontia |
| Genus: | †Nyaphulia Duhamel et al., 2024 |
| Species: | †N. oelofseni
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| Binomial name | |
| †Nyaphulia oelofseni (Rubidge, 1990)
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| Synonyms | |
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Nyaphulia is an extinct genus of dicynodont therapsid from the middle Permian of South Africa, containing only the type species N. oelofseni. The generic name is in honour of John Nyaphuli of the National Museum of Bloemfontein, who contributed extensively to South African palaeontology and discovered the holotype specimen of Nyaphulia in 1982. Nyaphulia was initially named as a second species of the basal dicynodont Eodicynodon by Professor Bruce Rubidge in 1990 as E. oelofseni, named after his mentor in palaeontology and geology Dr. Burger Oelofsen.
Phylogenetic analyses since then consistently found "E." oelofseni to be more basal than the type species of Eodicynodon, rather than its sister taxon, which researchers suggested indicated it should belong to a distinct genus. "E." oelofseni would be named as the new genus Nyaphulia in 2024, following a thorough redescription of its material after it was CT-scanned and modelled digitally.
Nyaphulia has a mix of features of both earlier anomodonts and dicynodonts. Like early anomodonts, it still has no tusks or secondary palate and a laterally exposed septomaxilla bone around the nose, but like other dicynodonts it has no teeth in its premaxilla or at the tip of the dentary, a lateral dentary shelf, and reduced transverse wings of the pterygoid. Nyaphulia then represents a transitional stage in dicynodont evolution, demonstrating the order in which dicynodont traits such as beaks and tusks evolved.