Scylacosauria is a clade of

therocephalia Therocephalia is an extinct suborder of eutheriodont therapsids (mammals and their close relatives) from the Permian and Triassic. The therocephalians ("beast-heads") are named after their large skulls, which, along with the structure of their ...

therapsid Therapsida is a major group of eupelycosaurian synapsids that includes mammals, their ancestors and relatives. Many of the traits today seen as unique to mammals had their origin within early therapsids, including limbs that were oriented mor ...

s. It includes the

basal Basal or basilar is a term meaning ''base'', ''bottom'', or ''minimum''. Science * Basal (anatomy), an anatomical term of location for features associated with the base of an organism or structure * Basal (medicine), a minimal level that is nec ...

family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...

Scylacosauridae Scylacosauridae is an extinct family of therocephalian therapsids. Scylacosaurids lived during the Permian period and were among the most basal therocephalians. The family was named by South African paleontologist Robert Broom in 1903. Scylacosa ...

and the infraorder

Eutherocephalia Eutherocephalia ("true beast head") is an extinct clade of advanced therocephalian therapsids. Eutherocephalians are distinguished from the lycosuchids and scylacosaurids, two early therocephalian families. While lycosuchids and scyalosaurids ...

. Scylacosauridae and Eutherocephalia form this clade to the exclusion of Lycosuchidae, the most basal therocephalian family. Thus, Scylacosauria includes all therocephalians except lycosuchids. Below is a

cladogram A cladogram (from Greek ''clados'' "branch" and ''gramma'' "character") is a diagram used in cladistics to show relations among organisms. A cladogram is not, however, an evolutionary tree because it does not show how ancestors are related to ...

showing the phylogenetic position of Sylacosauria:

References

Therocephalia Guadalupian first appearances Middle Triassic extinctions Tetrapod unranked clades {{paleo-Therapsid-stub