The common feature for members of this clade is the presence of the carnassial teeth. The carnassial teeth of the Carnivoramorpha are upper premolar P4 and lower molar m1.[6]
Comparison of carnassial teeth of a carnivoran (wolf), a hyaenodontid (Hyaenodon) and an oxyaenid (Oxyaena)
Recent phylogenetic studies indicate that the superfamily Miacoidea and family Miacidae are paraphyletic, with "miacids" being more closely related to carnivorans than to viverravids. In 2010 Flynn, Finarelli & Spaulding named a new clade Carnivoraformes within Carnivoramorpha, containing carnivorans and "miacids" but not viverravids.[7] The authors defined Carnivoraformes as the clade containing Carnivora and all taxa that are more closely related to Carnivora (represented by Canis lupus) than to viverravids (represented by Viverravus gracilis).
^Wyss, A. R. & Flynn, J. J. (1993.) “A Phylogenetic Analysis and Definition of the Carnivora.” in "Mammal Phylogeny – Placentals", Szalay, F. S., M. J. Novacek and M. C. McKenna (eds.). ISBN978-0-387-97853-6
^Solé, Floréal; Smith, Richard; Coillot, Tiphaine; de Bast, Eric; Smith, Thierry (2014). "Dental and tarsal anatomy of Miacis latouri and a phylogenetic analysis of the earliest carnivoraforms (Mammalia, Carnivoramorpha)". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 34 (1): 1–21. doi:10.1080/02724634.2013.793195. ISSN0272-4634. S2CID86207013.
Welsey-Hunt, G. D.; Flynn, J. J. (2005). "Phylogeny of the Carnivora: basal relationships among the Carnivoramorphans, and assessment of the position of 'Miacoidea' relative to Carnivora". Journal of Systematic Palaeontology. 3 (1): 1–28. doi:10.1017/S1477201904001518. S2CID86755875.
Susumu Tomiya, Shawn P. Zack, Michelle Spaulding and John J. Flynn (2019.) "Carnivorous mammals from the Middle Eocene Washakie formation, Wyoming, U.S.A., and their diversity trajectory in a post-warming world", in "The Society of Vertebrate Paleontology 79th annual meeting"
Solé, F.; Fischer, V.; Le Verger, K.; Mennecart, B.; Speijer, R. P.; Peigné, S.; Smith, T. (2022). "Evolution of European carnivorous mammal assemblages through the Palaeogene". Biological Journal of the Linnean Society. 135 (4): 734–753. doi:10.1093/biolinnean/blac002.