Cynodontia

Cynodontia Temporal range: Late Permian-Recent, 260–0 Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
Examples of cynodonts. 1st row: Dvinia prima, Trirachodon berryi; 2nd row: Brasilitherium riograndensis, Megazostrodon rudnerae; 3rd row: Ornithorhynchus anatinus (platypus), Loxodonta africana (African bush elephant).
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Clade:	Synapsida
Clade:	Therapsida
Clade:	Eutheriodontia
Clade:	Cynodontia Owen, 1861
Clades
†Charassognathidae †Procynosuchidae †Dviniidae †Madysauridae Epicynodontia

Cynodontia (lit. 'dog-teeth') is a clade of eutheriodont therapsids that first appeared in the Late Permian (approximately 260 mya), and extensively diversified after the Permian–Triassic extinction event. Mammals are cynodonts, as are their extinct ancestors and close relatives (Mammaliaformes), having evolved from advanced probainognathian cynodonts during the Late Triassic.

Non-mammalian cynodonts occupied a variety of ecological niches, both as carnivores and as herbivores. Following the emergence of mammals, most other cynodont lines went extinct, with the last known non-mammaliaform cynodont group, the Tritylodontidae, having its youngest records in the Early Cretaceous.