Epicynodontia

Epicynodontia Temporal range: Late Permian-Present, 260–0 Ma PreЄ Є O S D C P T J K Pg N
Skeleton of Thrinaxodon liorhinus, a basal epicynodont
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Clade:	Synapsida
Order:	Therapsida
Clade:	Eutheriodontia
Suborder:	Cynodontia
Clade:	Epicynodontia Hopson and Kitching, 2001
Subgroups
See text.

Epicynodontia is a clade of cynodont therapsids that includes most cynodonts, including galesaurids, thrinaxodontids, and Eucynodontia. 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 Ruta, Botha-Brink, Mitchell and Benton (2013) showing one hypothesis of cynodont relationships:^[2]

Cynodontia	Charassognathus Dvinia Procynosuchus Epicynodontia Cynosaurus Galesauridae Galesaurus Progalesaurus Thrinaxodontidae Nanictosaurus Thrinaxodon Platycraniellus Eucynodontia Cynognathia Probainognathia (including mammals)

References

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. 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.