Cynodont

A therapsid belonging to the group containing mammaliaforms and close extinct relatives. Enlargement of the dentary, differentiation of teeth and changes in the palate record a mosaic of feeding transformations.

A cynodont clade containing mammaliaforms and some close extinct relatives. It is broader than the living mammalian crown group.

A member of the lineage including mammals and close extinct relatives such as Morganucodon. Usage must distinguish this broader grouping from a living mammalian crown group.

A Middle Jurassic mammaliaform with aquatic adaptations and preserved integument. The fossil supplies a minimum occurrence for a fur-bearing covering, not the exact origin date of endothermy. ^[ref]

An Early Cretaceous mammal initially interpreted as a metatherian; later comparative analysis supported a eutherian placement, illustrating uncertainty in fossil assignment. ^[ref]

An extinct mammalian radiation historically known chiefly from teeth. New cranial and skeletal material permits wider tests of its uncertain relationships. ^[ref]

A latest Cretaceous Malagasy gondwanatherian with an unusually informative skeleton and a mosaic of anatomical features. ^[ref]

A latest Cretaceous Malagasy gondwanatherian known from a well-preserved cranium. ^[ref]

A grouping used in hypotheses contrasting northern and southern origins of tribosphenic molars, including the lineage of therians.

A proposed southern mammaliaform grouping important to hypotheses of an independent southern origin of tribospheny. Membership and relationships have differed among analyses. ^[ref]

A Middle Jurassic Malagasy mammaliaform known from lower teeth in a jaw fragment. Its tribosphenic-like construction bears on competing hypotheses for the origin of tribospheny. ^[ref]

An Early Jurassic mammaliaform with a small skull documenting changes in the jaw, ear attachment and braincase. ^[ref]

An early mammaliaform whose jaw preserves both articular–quadrate and dentary–squamosal articulations.

For a crown-based usage, a member of the clade comprising the last common ancestor of living monotremes and therians and all its descendants. hair and lactation characterize living members, but recognition of many early fossils depends on jaw and dental characters.

Sorex minutus, a native Irish shrew.

Crocidura russula, an introduced shrew in Ireland first recorded there in 2007.

Native status is geographical: a species native in mainland Britain can be introduced to an offshore island.

A member of Chiroptera. Echolocation occurs in many, but not all, living bat lineages.

An antelope studied for false alarm snorts associated with retaining receptive females.

A member of the living human species. Our anatomy retains deeply inherited vertebrate organization alongside derived specializations.

Production and delivery of milk to offspring. It is characteristic of living mammals, including egg-laying monotremes.

The clade containing living marsupials and placental mammals and their common ancestor. These living branches are distinct from the broader total lineages Metatheria and Eutheria.

The lineage comprising placental mammals and extinct relatives closer to them than to marsupials. A fossil assignment to Eutheria does not automatically assign it to the placental crown group.

An Early Cretaceous eutherian from the Jehol biota. Its well-preserved anatomy informed reassessment of characters used to distinguish early eutherians from metatherians. ^[ref]

An approximately 125-million-year-old Early Cretaceous mammal commonly analysed as a stem eutherian. Its informative skeleton combines eutherian affinities, epipubic bones and evidence of climbing adaptations. ^[ref]

A member of the crown group containing all living placental lineages. The presence of a placenta alone is not a sufficient phylogenetic definition: forms of placentation also occur in other mammals.

An extinct South American mammal whose unusual anatomy made its relationships difficult to resolve. Ancient protein sequences support affinities with the perissodactyl lineage. ^[ref]

An extinct South American ungulate-like mammal whose collagen sequence evidence supports affinities with the perissodactyl lineage. ^[ref]

An extinct group of hoofed mammals once linked closely to whale ancestry through dental similarities; whole-skeleton and molecular evidence changed that interpretation.

A placental clade containing Primates and Glires, among other lineages.

A squirrel-monkey species used in tests of acquired colour discrimination after opsin addition.

A member of Hominoidea, comprising lesser apes and great apes. Living members do not exhaust the anatomical diversity of extinct apes.

A member of Hominidae, including Pongo, Gorilla, Pan and Homo. Living apes are evolved comparative relatives, not unchanged ancestral populations.

An extinct African hominin genus whose species combine different locomotor and feeding character mosaics.

A Pliocene hominin important to studies of the relationship between habitual bipedalism and retained climbing capabilities. Comparative analysis must account for age and growth. ^[ref]

An extinct African hominin genus, including Paranthropus boisei, with specialized masticatory anatomy.

An East African hominin with very large postcanine teeth and a robust feeding apparatus. dental microwear and enamel carbon-isotope evidence complicate a simple inference of habitual hard-object feeding from gross anatomy. ^[ref]

In the human-evolution usage adopted here, a member of the human lineage after its separation from Pan. Usage and formal tribal boundaries should be stated because classifications differ.

A Miocene fossil ape with a mosaic of trunk and hand characters. Its informative anatomy does not uniquely identify it as the Pan–Homo last common ancestor. ^[ref]

An African fossil ape genus including Ardipithecus ramidus, important to hypotheses about early hominin locomotion.

An approximately 4.4-million-year-old fossil hominin with an informative, incomplete skeleton. Its inferred locomotor mosaic differs from treating a living chimpanzee as an unchanged human ancestor. ^[ref]

The genus containing Homo sapiens and extinct related species.

An archaic human lineage first characterized genetically. Its contribution to some living populations illustrates a history more complex than complete replacement without interbreeding.

An extinct Eurasian human lineage known from fossils and Ancient DNA, with evidence of genetic admixture with ancestors of living people.

The living human species. Its population history includes African ancestral structure, dispersal, demographic change and genetic admixture.

The genus containing chimpanzees and bonobos, the closest living sister lineage of Homo.

The species Pan paniscus, sister to the chimpanzee within Pan. It is a living evolved lineage rather than an unchanged ancestral social model.

The species Pan troglodytes, distinguished from the bonobo. Within-species ecological and behavioural variation matters in comparative inference.

A member of Colobinae, a primate lineage with specialized foregut fermentation.

A lagomorph with specialized hindgut digestion and cecotrophy. It is not a member of Rodentia.

A native vole affected by habitat change and introduced American mink.

Ondatra zibethicus, a rodent introduced to Britain through fur farming and subsequently eradicated.

Myocastor coypus, a South American rodent whose escaped populations were the subject of an eradication campaign in Britain.

Sciurus vulgaris, whose regional decline or recovery can reflect habitat, competitors, pathogens and predators.

Sciurus carolinensis, native to North America and introduced to Britain and Ireland. Its effects can include competition and pathogen-mediated impacts.

A rodent of the genus Castor, capable of substantial habitat modification. Native regional presence and modern reintroduction require separate evidence.

The placental lineage containing armadillos, sloths and anteaters.

A member of the toothless vermilinguan lineage, with a protrusible tongue specialized for collecting social insects.

A placental clade including proboscideans and several other living groups with deep African evolutionary associations.

The placental lineage containing living manatees and dugongs. fossils with substantial weight-bearing limbs document earlier stages of its aquatic transition.

An Eocene Jamaican sirenian retaining four substantial limbs and a strong sacroiliac connection alongside aquatic specializations. It informs the terrestrial-to-aquatic transition without being demonstrated to be a direct ancestor. ^[ref]

An extinct proboscidean lineage with extensive fossil and genomic evidence. Ancient genomes show that morphological groupings can conceal distinct and admixed ancestry histories. ^[ref]

A placental clade including Carnivora, Pholidota, Perissodactyla and Artiodactyla, among other orders.

A member of the horse lineage. Its fossil history supplies unusually rich evidence for changes in diet, tooth wear and crown height.

A placental order containing cats, dogs, bears and their relatives. The taxon name does not imply that every member has a predominantly meat-based diet.

A member of Ursidae. Archaeological occurrence of a transported captive bear is not proof of a local wild population.

Martes martes, a mustelid predator whose recovery can change interactions within mammalian assemblages.

A North American mustelid whose introduced populations in Europe derive from human transport and escapes or releases.

A canid of the Canis lupus lineage. Exact regional last-occurrence claims require distinguishing verified records from later stories.

A domesticated canid. Self-related odour discrimination and visual mirror-guided body localization are different experimental capacities.

Ursus arctos. Later archaeological specimens can represent transported captive animals rather than a surviving local wild population.

A felid genus including Lynx lynx, the Eurasian lynx documented in the British fossil and archaeological record.

In the broad phylogenetic usage, a clade including Cetacea together with the traditional even-toed ungulates. Whale ancestry is therefore artiodactyl ancestry, despite the loss of the adult terrestrial hoofed body plan.

Domestic bovines whose archaeological history must be distinguished from that of wild aurochs.

A deer of the genus Muntiacus, some populations of which occur outside their native range through human introductions.

Cervus nippon, introduced into parts of Britain and Ireland through human management.

The deer lineage including Dama dama, with a long history of human translocation.

Cervus elaphus, whose modern populations can include both older regional lineages and recent translocations.

The wild form of Sus scrofa; interpretation of archaeological material must distinguish wild, domestic and managed animals.

The extinct wild cattle species Bos primigenius. Its regional disappearance must be distinguished from the history of domestic cattle.

The extinct deer Megaloceros giganteus, also called the Irish elk despite its wider geographical distribution. ^[ref]

A member of Ruminantia, characterized by a specialized foregut fermentation system and rumination. It is not a general name for every foregut-fermenting herbivore.

Living hippopotamuses belong to the closest living sister lineage of Cetacea; a living hippopotamus is not a whale ancestor.

The lineage of whales, dolphins and porpoises. Its Eocene fossils document a sequence from terrestrial or amphibious relatives to fully aquatic forms; living members comprise Odontoceti and Mysticeti.