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Triassic Period--Therapsids, cynodonts, and the first mammals

• Walking with Dinosaurs Chronology, BBC. Information about the animals of the Late Triassic, including the mammal-like reptile Placerias and cynodonts. Based on the "Walking with Dinosaurs" video series.
• The Evolution of Mammals, Enchanted Learning. Brief summary of the evolution of mammals, with links to information about the oldest mammal fossil from the Triassic.
• Mammaliformes: Symmetrodonta--Hadrocodium  and Kuehneotheriids. Palaeos. Technical summary of mammal ancestors and the oldest mammal fossils from China with illustrations and diagrams.
• Lystrosaurus. Wikipedia. Summary of the synapsid Lystrosaurus, the most common land vertebrate of the early Triassic period.
• Cynodont. Wikipedia. Summary of the Triassic synapsid cynodonts, mammal-like reptiles that had very mammal-like characteristics.
• How Mammals Evolved. Smithsonian, National Museum of Natural History. Simplified family tree (cladogram) of mammal evolution with illustrations of some of the key types of early ancestors.
• Triassic, Palaeos. Scroll down the page for a brief description of Triassic climate, continental positions, invertebrate life, vertebrate life, and plant life. Technical information about specific types of vertebrates, including therapsids, can be found in other parts of this site. At Therapsida, there is an abbreviated cladogram. You can follow the cladogram to Cynodontia (cynodonts), to Mammaliforms (proto-mammals), to Mammalia for information and technical diagrams of the changes in skeletal structure that are interpreted to have taken place during the evolution of mammals in the Triassic.

 

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