Temporal range: Late Triassic – Lower Cretaceous 210–140 Ma
PreꞒ
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O
S
D
C
P
T
J
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Life restoration of a Megazostrodon, Natural History Museum, London
Scientific classification
Domain:
Eukaryota
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Chordata
Clade:
Synapsida
Clade:
Therapsida
Clade:
Cynodontia
Clade:
Mammaliaformes
Order:
†Morganucodonta Kermack, Mussett, & Rigney, 1973
Subgroups
†Bridetherium
†Cherwellia?
†Cifellilestes
†Hallautherium
†Paceyodon
†Purbeckodon?
†Rosierodon
†Storchodon
†Stylidens?
†Morganucodontidae Kuhne, 1958
†Eozostrodon
†Erythrotherium
†Gondwanadon?
†Helvetiodon
†Indotherium?
†Morganucodon
†Paikasigudodon
†Megazostrodontidae Gow, 1986
†Brachyzostrodon
†Dinnetherium
†Indozostrodon?
†Megazostrodon
†Wareolestes
Morganucodonta ("Glamorgan teeth") is an extinct order of basal Mammaliaformes, a group including crown-group mammals (Mammalia) and their close relatives. Their remains have been found in Southern Africa, Western Europe, North America, India and China. The morganucodontans were probably insectivorous and nocturnal, though like eutriconodonts some species attained large sizes and were carnivorous.[1] Nocturnality is believed to have evolved in the earliest mammals in the Triassic (called the nocturnal bottleneck) as a specialisation that allowed them to exploit a safer, night-time niche, while most larger predators were likely to have been active during the day (though some dinosaurs, for example, were nocturnal as well[2]).
^"(PDF) A Large Morganucodontan Mammaliaform from the Late Jurassic of Germany".
^Schmitz, Lars; Motani, Ryosuke (2011). "Nocturnality in dinosaurs inferred from scleral ring and orbit morphology". Science. 332 (6030): 705–708. Bibcode:2011Sci...332..705S. doi:10.1126/science.1200043. PMID 21493820. S2CID 33253407.
Morganucodonta ("Glamorgan teeth") is an extinct order of basal Mammaliaformes, a group including crown-group mammals (Mammalia) and their close relatives...
defined as the clade originating from the most recent common ancestor of Morganucodonta and the crown group mammals; the latter is the clade originating with...
living Monotremata and to which a variety of extinct groups, including Morganucodonta, Docodonta, Triconodonta and Multituberculata, have also been assigned...
Megazostrodon is an extinct genus of basal mammaliaforms belonging to the order Morganucodonta. It is approximately 200 million years old. Two species are known: M...
seen in current mammals. Morganucodon is the type genus for the order Morganucodonta, a group of generally similar mammaliaforms known from the Late Triassic...
This is an incomplete list of prehistoric mammals. It does not include extant mammals or recently extinct mammals. For extinct primate species, see: list...
a greater extent than many other early mammaliaform groups such as Morganucodonta and Sinoconodon. Some authors also consider docodonts to lie crownward...
partial palate, snout and postcanine dentition. It belongs to the clade Morganucodonta. Davis, Brian M.; Jäger, Kai R.K.; Rougier, Guillermo W.; Trujillo,...
in age. Other Mesozoic mammaliaforms found there include members of Morganucodonta and Amphilestidae. The authors who described Gondtherium - which is...
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