The cynodonts lived in all continents, and their fossil record begins in the Upper Permian 256 million years ago.[3]
The extinct members of the group were victims of the End-Triassic extinction event, but the line that led to the mammals survived.[4]
↑Kermack D. 1982. A new tritylodont from the Kayenta Formation of Arizona. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 76 1-17.
↑Sues, Hans-Dieter & F.A. Jenkins 2006. The postcranial skeleton of Kayentatherium wellesi from the Lower Jurassic Kayenta Formation of Arizona and the phylogenetic significance of postcranial features in tritylodontid cynodonts. In: Carrano Matthew T; Gaudin T.J; Blob R.W. and Wible J.R., Amniote Paleobiology: perspectivers on the evolution of mammals, birds, and reptiles. University of Chicago Press. 114-152
↑Ruta, M., Botha-Brink, J., Mitchell, S.A., Benton, M.J. 2013. The radiation of cynodonts and the ground plan of mammalian morphological diversity Proceedings of the Royal Society B 280: 20131865. DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2013.1865 Reference page.