Epicynodontia

Epicynodontia
Temporal range: Late Permian-Present, 260–0 Ma
Skeleton of Thrinaxodon liorhinus, a basal epicynodont
Sperm whale, a modern-day epicynodont
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Clade: Synapsida
Clade: Therapsida
Clade: Cynodontia
Clade: Epicynodontia
Hopson & Kitching, 2001
Subgroups

Epicynodontia is a clade of cynodont therapsids that includes most cynodonts, such as galesaurids, thrinaxodontids, and Eucynodontia (including mammals). It was erected as a stem-based taxon by Hopson and Kitching (2001) and defined as the most inclusive clade containing Mammalia and excluding Procynosuchus, a Late Permian genus that is one of the most basal cynodonts.[1]

Below is a cladogram from Pusch et al. (2023) showing one hypothesis of cynodont relationships:[2]

Cynodontia
  1. ^ Hopson, J.A.; Kitching, J.W. (2001). "A probainognathian cynodont from South Africa and the phylogeny of nonmammalian cynodonts". Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology. 156 (1): 5–35.
  2. ^ Pusch, L. C.; Kammerer, C. F.; Fernandez, V.; Fröbisch, J. (2023). "Cranial anatomy of Nythosaurus larvatus Owen, 1876, an Early Triassic cynodont preserving a natural endocast". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 42 (3): e2174441. doi:10.1080/02724634.2023.2174441. S2CID 257419409.