| |
| | The Cynodontia |
 | | The non-mammalian therapsids are divided into five major clades, namely the Dinocephalia, Gorgonopsia, Anomodontia, Therocephalia and the Cynodontia (Kemp, 1982; Hopson, 1994; Rubidge and Sidor, 2001). |
 | | The only non-mammalian therapsid clade to survive the Triassic period was the Cynodontia (sensu Rubidge and Sidor, 2001). |
 | | The members of this group acquired increasingly more derived mammalian features, such as an enlarged dentary, reduced reflected lamina, bony secondary palate, complex postcanine dentition, reduced lumbar ribs and parasagittal gait, with the first true mammals appearing by the end of the Triassic (Cluver, 1978; Benton, 1990; Pough, et al., 1996). |
| www.nasmus.co.za /PALAEO/jbotha/the_cynodontia.htm (3010 words) |
|