Mammaliamorpha is a clade of

cynodont The cynodonts () (clade Cynodontia) are a clade of eutheriodont therapsids that first appeared in the Late Permian (approximately 260 mya), and extensively diversified after the Permian–Triassic extinction event. Cynodonts had a wide variety ...

s. It contains the clades

Tritylodontidae Tritylodontidae ("three-knob teeth", named after the shape of their cheek teeth) is an extinct family of small to medium-sized, highly specialized mammal-like cynodonts, bearing several mammalian traits like erect limbs, endothermy and detail ...

and

Mammaliaformes Mammaliaformes ("mammalian forms") is a clade that contains the crown group mammals and their closest Extinction, extinct relatives; the group adaptive radiation, radiated from earlier probainognathian cynodonts. It is defined as the clade origin ...

, as well as a few genera that do not belong to either of these groups. The family

Tritheledontidae Tritheledontidae, the tritheledontids or ictidosaurs, is an extinct family of small to medium-sized (about 10 to 20 cm long) cynodonts. They were highly mammal-like, specialized cynodonts, although they still retained a few reptile-like ana ...

has also been placed in Mammaliamorpha by some

phylogenetic In biology, phylogenetics (; from Greek φυλή/ φῦλον [] "tribe, clan, race", and wikt:γενετικός, γενετικός [] "origin, source, birth") is the study of the evolutionary history and relationships among or within groups o ...

analyses, but has been recovered outside the clade by others. According to a 2022 study based on

inner ear The inner ear (internal ear, auris interna) is the innermost part of the vertebrate ear. In vertebrates, the inner ear is mainly responsible for sound detection and balance. In mammals, it consists of the bony labyrinth, a hollow cavity in the ...

anatomy, Mammaliamorpha may be the clade in which

endothermy An endotherm (from Greek ἔνδον ''endon'' "within" and θέρμη ''thermē'' "heat") is an organism that maintains its body at a metabolically favorable temperature, largely by the use of heat released by its internal bodily functions inste ...

("warm-bloodedness") first appeared in the mammalian lineage.

Classification

Mammaliamorpha was named in 1988 by the American palaeontologist Timothy B. Rowe, who defined it as comprising "the

last common ancestor In biology and genetic genealogy, the most recent common ancestor (MRCA), also known as the last common ancestor (LCA) or concestor, of a set of organisms is the most recent individual from which all the organisms of the set are descended. The ...

and

Mammal Mammals () are a group of vertebrate animals constituting the class Mammalia (), characterized by the presence of mammary glands which in females produce milk for feeding (nursing) their young, a neocortex (a region of the brain), fur or ...

ia, and all its descendants". The

cladogram A cladogram (from Greek ''clados'' "branch" and ''gramma'' "character") is a diagram used in cladistics to show relations among organisms. A cladogram is not, however, an evolutionary tree because it does not show how ancestors are related to d ...

below is adapted from the 2019 description of the mammaliamorph '' Pseudotherium'' by Rachel V. S. Wallace and colleagues:

References

Prozostrodontia Tetrapod unranked clades Carnian first appearances Extant Late Triassic first appearances Taxa named by Timothy B. Rowe {{Therapsid-stub