Phreatophasma

Golubev (2000) hypothesized that Phreatophasma is not a synapsid but rather a leptorophine parareptile closely related to Biarmica and Leptoropha (both of which are now considered seymouriamorphs), as all three were found in the same fossil assemblage and are similar anatomically. Another line of evidence supporting close affinities was that all three were found in transitional marine deposits within the assemblage (Phreatophasma in a brachiopod- and bryozoan-bearing limestone and Biarmica and Leptoropha in lagoon and delta deposits), settings which are not typical for terrestrial synapsids but possible for semi-aquatic seymouriamorphs.

The most recent examination of Phreatophasma using up-to-date knowledge of the postcranial anatomy of synapsids rejected therapsid and seymouriamorph affinities. Phylogenetic analysis found this species to be a basal member of Caseidae, a position that had important implications for the evolution of this family. This is only the second example of a caseid from the palaeo-temperate region of Russia, and it is not closely related to the first (Ennatosaurus tecton), implying at least two distinct dispersal events from the palaeoequatorial to temperate latitudes. It also implies that a number of plesiomorphic characteristics of caseids, including small body size and a relatively long femur, were retained as late as the middle Permian, a time when caseids were otherwise represented by large herbivorous taxa.