Clade of cynodonts
Probainognathia is one of the two major subgroups of the clade Eucynodontia , the other being Cynognathia . The earliest forms were carnivorous and insectivorous , though some groups eventually also evolved herbivorous diets. The earliest and most basal probainognathian is the Middle Triassic (Anisian ) aged Lumkuia South Africa , though probainognathians would not become prominent until the mid Norian stage of the Late Triassic.[ 2] extinction at the end of Triassic: Tritheledontidae and Tritylodontidae , which both survived until the Jurassic —the latter even into the Cretaceous (Montirictus Xenocretosuchus Mammaliaformes , which includes the mammals .[ 3]
Below is a cladogram from Ruta, Botha-Brink, Mitchell and Benton (2013) showing one hypothesis of cynodont relationships:[ 4]
Cladogram from Stefanello et al. (2023):[ 5]
^ Martinelli, A.; Soares, M. B.; Oliveira, T.; Rodrigues, P.; Schultz, C. (2017). "The Triassic eucynodont Candelariodon barberenai revisited and the early diversity of stem prozostrodontians" . Acta Palaeontologica Polonica . 62 . doi :10.4202/app.00344.2017 ^ Abdala, Fernando; Gaetano, Leandro C. (2018), Tanner, Lawrence H. (ed.), "The Late Triassic Record of Cynodonts: Time of Innovations in the Mammalian Lineage" , The Late Triassic World , vol. 46, Cham: Springer International Publishing, pp. 407–445, doi :10.1007/978-3-319-68009-5_11 , ISBN 978-3-319-68008-8 , retrieved 2021-05-24 ^ The slow and fast steps to becoming a mammal ^ Ruta, M.; Botha-Brink, J.; Mitchell, S. A.; Benton, M. J. (2013). "The radiation of cynodonts and the ground plan of mammalian morphological diversity" . Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences . 280 (1769): 20131865. doi :10.1098/rspb.2013.1865 . PMC 3768321 PMID 23986112 . ^ 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 . doi :10.1007/s10914-022-09648-y .
