''Protheriodon'' is an extinct genus of

probainognathia Probainognathia is one of the two major subgroups of the clade Eucynodontia, the other being Cynognathia. The earliest forms were carnivorous and insectivorous, though some groups eventually also evolved herbivorous diets. The earliest and most b ...

cynodont Cynodontia () is a clade of eutheriodont therapsids that first appeared in the Late Permian (approximately 260 Megaannum, mya), and extensively diversified after the Permian–Triassic extinction event. Mammals are cynodonts, as are their extin ...

s which existed in the Santa Maria Formation of the Paraná Basin in southeastern

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

during the middle

Triassic The Triassic ( ; sometimes symbolized 🝈) is a geologic period and system which spans 50.5 million years from the end of the Permian Period 251.902 million years ago ( Mya), to the beginning of the Jurassic Period 201.4 Mya. The Triassic is t ...

period. It contains the species ''Protheriodon estudianti''. It was first described by Argentine palaeontologist José Bonaparte, who assigned it to the family Brasilodontidae. More recent studies have however recovered it in a more basal position than other brasilodontids, just outside

Prozostrodontia Prozostrodontia is a clade of cynodonts including mammaliaforms and their closest relatives such as Tritheledontidae and Tritylodontidae. It was erected as a node-based taxon by Liu and Olsen (2010) and defined as the least inclusive clade contai ...

. Cladogram from Martinelli ''et al.'', 2017:

References

Probainognathia Ladinian genera Middle Triassic synapsids of South America Triassic Brazil Fossils of Brazil Santa Maria Formation Fossil taxa described in 2006 Taxa named by José Bonaparte {{Paleo-cynodont-stub