Prozostrodontia

Prozostrodonts
Temporal range: Late Triassic (Carnian),
233.23–0 Ma
Skull of Kayentatherium wellesi
Gaur
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Clade: Synapsida
Clade: Therapsida
Clade: Cynodontia
Clade: Probainognathia
Clade: Prozostrodontia
Liu and Olsen, 2010
Subgroups

Prozostrodontia is a clade of cynodonts including mammaliaforms and their closest relatives such as Tritheledontidae and Tritylodontidae. It was erected as a node-based taxon by Liu and Olsen (2010) and defined as the least inclusive clade containing Prozostrodon brasiliensis, Tritylodon langaevus, Pachygenelus monus, and Mus musculus (the house mouse). Prozostrodontia is diagnosed by several characters, including:

Prozostrodontia includes tritylodontids, which have traditionally been placed within the more primitive cynodont group Cynognathia as distant mammal relatives. It also includes Tritheledontidae, which has long been placed close to mammals. Most previous studies considered Tritheledontidae a valid monophyletic grouping, meaning it was a true clade including all the descendants of a single common ancestor, but Liu and Olsen (2010) found Tritheledontidae to be a paraphyletic series of basal prozostrodontians. Below is a cladogram from Liu and Olsen (2010) showing the phylogenetic position of Prozostrodontia:[3]

Cynodontia 
  1. ^ Martinelli, A. G.; Eltink, E.; Da-Rosa, Á. A. S.; Langer, M. C. (2017). "A new cynodont from the Santa Maria formation, south Brazil, improves Late Triassic probainognathian diversity". Papers in Palaeontology. 3 (3): 401–423. Bibcode:2017PPal....3..401M. doi:10.1002/spp2.1081.
  2. ^ Stefanello, M.; Martinelli, A. G.; Müller, R. T.; Dias-da-Silva, S.; Kerber, L. (2023). "A complete skull of a stem mammal from the Late Triassic of Brazil illuminates the early evolution of prozostrodontian cynodonts". Journal of Mammalian Evolution. 30 (2): 299–317. doi:10.1007/s10914-022-09648-y.
  3. ^ a b Liu, J.; Olsen, P. (2010). "The Phylogenetic Relationships of Eucynodontia (Amniota: Synapsida)". Journal of Mammalian Evolution. 17 (3): 151. doi:10.1007/s10914-010-9136-8.