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Cynognathia is a clade of the infraorder Eucynodontia. The Cynognathia were a carnivorous and herbivorous family. The carnivores were the Cynognathidae - which includes the predator Cynognathus - a basal member of the Cynognathian family. The herbivorous cynognathians were the mammal-like Tritylodonts. Cynognathus may be the only carnivorous species of its family, as the rest were herbivorous. The cynognathians were mostly very mammal-like, but it doesn't include mammals. The cynognathians are the longest lived therapsid non-mammalian family, because they lived much of the dinosaur era (Mesozoic Era), from Triassic to the Early Cretaceous, before the extinction of non-avian dinosaurs, but most of them were small. The most renowned Cynognathian is Cynognathus. So far, the Cynognathians's fossils are found in South America, Antarctica, and South Africa.
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