Ecteninion is a genus

Genus

In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...

 of meat-eating mammal

Mammal

Mammals are members of a class of air-breathing vertebrate animals characterised by the possession of endothermy, hair, three middle ear bones, and mammary glands functional in mothers with young...

-like reptile

Reptile

Reptiles are members of a class of air-breathing, ectothermic vertebrates which are characterized by laying shelled eggs , and having skin covered in scales and/or scutes. They are tetrapods, either having four limbs or being descended from four-limbed ancestors...

s (Therapsids) that lived during the Triassic

Triassic

The Triassic is a geologic period and system that extends from about 250 to 200 Mya . As the first period of the Mesozoic Era, the Triassic follows the Permian and is followed by the Jurassic. Both the start and end of the Triassic are marked by major extinction events...

 of South America

South America

South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...

. Its affinities are unclear, but it seems to be related to Probainognathus

Probainognathus

Probainognathus is a genus of meat-eating mammal-like reptile that lived during the lower Upper Triassic of South America. This creature had an incipient squamosal-dentary jaw-cranium joint, which is a clearly mammalian anatomical feature. It was at the very least closely related to the family of...

. The genus Ecteninion was named by Martinez R.N., May C.L. and Forster C.A. in 1996 based on a single species.

The species Ecteninion lunensis is known from a nearly complete skull of about 11 cm in length. It was found in Carnian (Upper Triassic)-age strata

Stratum

In geology and related fields, a stratum is a layer of sedimentary rock or soil with internally consistent characteristics that distinguish it from other layers...

 of the Ischigualasto Formation in Argentina

Argentina

Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...

. It has been interpreted as a basal eucynodont. The holotype is in the collection of the Universidad Nacional de San Juan.