Theriiformes is a clade of
mammal
A mammal () is a vertebrate animal of the Class (biology), class Mammalia (). Mammals are characterised by the presence of milk-producing mammary glands for feeding their young, a broad neocortex region of the brain, fur or hair, and three ...
s. The term was coined by Timothy B. Rowe in his doctoral
dissertation,
and is defined as the clade formed by the most recent common ancestor of
multituberculates (which form part of the broader group
Allotheria
Allotheria (meaning "other beasts", from the Ancient Greek language, Greek , '–other and , '–wild animal) is an extinct clade of mammals known from the Mesozoic and early Cenozoic. Shared characteristics of the group are the presence of lower ...
, along with
Gondwanatheria and likely all/part of
Haramiyida
Haramiyida is a possibly Paraphyly, paraphyletic order of Mammaliaformes, mammaliaform cynodonts or mammals of controversial taxonomic affinites. Their teeth, which are by far the most common remains, resemble those of the multituberculates. Howe ...
) and
Theria
Theria ( or ; ) is a scientific classification, subclass of mammals amongst the Theriiformes. Theria includes the eutherians (including the Placentalia, placental mammals) and the metatherians (including the marsupials) but excludes the egg-lay ...
(the group containing
marsupial
Marsupials are a diverse group of mammals belonging to the infraclass Marsupialia. They are natively found in Australasia, Wallacea, and the Americas. One of marsupials' unique features is their reproductive strategy: the young are born in a r ...
s and
placental mammals). Mammals more closely related to therians than to multituberculates are included in the clade
Trechnotheria.
As multituberculates are usually considered more closely related to therians than
monotreme
Monotremes () are mammals of the order Monotremata. They are the only group of living mammals that lay eggs, rather than bearing live young. The extant monotreme species are the platypus and the four species of echidnas. Monotremes are typified ...
s are (though some studies have recovered allotherians as less closely related to therians than monotremes are, placing them outside of
crown group
In phylogenetics, the crown group or crown assemblage is a collection of species composed of the living representatives of the collection, the most recent common ancestor of the collection, and all descendants of the most recent common ancestor ...
Mammalia) it is considered to be a subgroup of the mammalian
crown group
In phylogenetics, the crown group or crown assemblage is a collection of species composed of the living representatives of the collection, the most recent common ancestor of the collection, and all descendants of the most recent common ancestor ...
.
The cladogram below follows Luo ''et al.'' (2016):
References
Taxa named by Timothy B. Rowe
Theriimorpha
{{mammal-stub