Ecteninion

Ecteninion is an extinct genus of meat-eating cynodonts that lived during the Late Triassic (Carnian) in South America. The type species Ecteninion lunensis was named by R.N. Martinez, C.L. May, and C.A. Forster in 1996. The holotype of E. lunensis is PVSJ 422, it's known from a nearly complete skull of about 11 centimetres (4.3 in) in length. It was found in the Cancha de Bochas Member of the Ischigualasto Formation in the Ischigualasto-Villa Unión Basin in northwestern Argentina.^[1] It has been interpreted as a basal eucynodont. The holotype is in the collection of the Universidad Nacional de San Juan.

Ecteninion Temporal range: Carnian
Model
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Clade:	Synapsida
Clade:	Therapsida
Clade:	Cynodontia
Family:	†Ecteniniidae
Genus:	†Ecteninion Martínez et al. 1996
Type species
†Ecteninion lunensis Martínez et al. 1996
Synonyms
Ectenion (sic) Stefanello et al. 2023

Body size

Although specimens larger than the holotype are present in the Ischigualasto Formation, they are notably smaller than Trucidocynodon from the Santa Maria Formation.

Phylogeny

Ecteninion in a cladogram after Hopson & Kitching (2001):^[2]

Eucynodontia	Probainognathia Lumkuia Ecteninion Probelesodon Chiniquodon Aleodon Probainognathus Pachygenelus Morganucodon Cynognathia

Cladogram after Stefanello et al. (2023):^[3]

Ecteniniidae	Trucidocynodon Ectenion (sic) Diegocanis