Morganucodonta

Morganucodonta Temporal range: Late Triassic – Lower Cretaceous 210–140 Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
Life restoration of a Megazostrodon, Natural History Museum, London
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Clade:	Synapsida
Clade:	Therapsida
Clade:	Cynodontia
Clade:	Mammaliaformes
Order:	†Morganucodonta Kermack, Mussett, & Rigney, 1973
Subgroups
†Bridetherium †Cherwellia? †Cifellilestes †Hallautherium †Paceyodon †Purbeckodon? †Rosierodon †Storchodon †Stylidens? †Morganucodontidae Kuhne, 1958  †Eozostrodon †Erythrotherium †Gondwanadon? †Helvetiodon †Indotherium? †Morganucodon †Paikasigudodon †Megazostrodontidae Gow, 1986  †Brachyzostrodon †Dinnetherium †Indozostrodon? †Megazostrodon †Wareolestes

Morganucodonta ("Glamorgan teeth") is an extinct order of basal Mammaliaformes, a group including crown-group mammals (Mammalia) and their close relatives. Their remains have been found in Southern Africa, Western Europe, North America, India and China. The morganucodontans were probably insectivorous and nocturnal, though like eutriconodonts some species attained large sizes and were carnivorous.^[1] Nocturnality is believed to have evolved in the earliest mammals in the Triassic (called the nocturnal bottleneck) as a specialisation that allowed them to exploit a safer, night-time niche, while most larger predators were likely to have been active during the day (though some dinosaurs, for example, were nocturnal as well^[2]).