Odobenidae

Odobenidae; Temporal range: Middle Miocene to present
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Carnivora
Clade:	Pinnipedia
Superfamily:	Otarioidea
Family:	Odobenidae; Allen, 1880
Genera
	Odobenus (walrus) ; (see text for more)

Odobenidae is a family of pinnipeds, of which the only extant species is the walrus (Odobenus rosmarus). In the past, however, the group was much more diverse, and includes more than a dozen fossil genera.

Taxonomy[edit]

All genera, except Odobenus, are extinct.^[1]

†Archaeodobenus
†Prototaria
†Proneotherium
†Nanodobenus
†Neotherium
†Imagotaria
†Kamtschatarctos
†Pelagiarctos
†Pontolis
†Pseudotaria
†Titanotaria
Clade Neodobenia^[2]
- †Gomphotaria
- Subfamily Dusignathinae
  - †Dusignathus
- Subfamily Odobeninae
  - †Aivukus
  - †Ontocetus
  - †Pliopedia
  - †Protodobenus
  - †Valenictus
  - Odobenus

In re-analyzing Pelagiarctos, Boessenecker et al. (2013) proposed the phylogenetic relationships of Odobenidae as follows (this analysis excluded Archaeodobenus, Titanotaria, Nanodobenus, and Pliopedia; and included Enaliarctos, Pteronarctos, Allodesmus, Desmatophoca, Callorhinus, Monachus, and Erignathus):^[3]

Enaliarctos emlongi †

Pteronarctos goedertae †

Desmatophocidae

	Allodesmus gracilis †

	Desmatophoca oregonensis †

Otariidae

Callorhinus ursinus

Phocidae

	Monachus monachus

	Erignathus barbatus

Imagotariinae

Prototaria primigenia †

Proneotherium regenningi †

Neotherium mirum †

Kamtschatarctos sinelnikovae †

Pseudotaria muramotoi †

	Pelagiarctos sp. †

	Imagotaria downsi †

Pontolis magnus †

Dusignathinae

	Dusignathus santacruzensis †

	Gomphotaria pugnax †

	Dusignathus seftoni †

Odobeninae

Aivukus cedrosensis †

Protodobenus japonicus †

Ontocetus †

	Valenictus chulavistensis †

	Odobenus rosmarus

References[edit]

^ Berta A, Sumich J, Kovacs K (December 2005). Marine Mammals: Evolutionary Biology (2nd ed.). Elsevier/Academic Press. ISBN 978-0-08-048934-6.
^ Magallanes I, Parham JF, Santos GP, Velez-Juarbe J (2018). "A new tuskless walrus from the Miocene of Orange County, California, with comments on the diversity and taxonomy of odobenids". PeerJ. 6: e5708. doi:10.7717/peerj.5708. PMC 6188011. PMID 30345169.
^ Boessenecker RW, Churchill M (2013-01-16). "A reevaluation of the morphology, paleoecology, and phylogenetic relationships of the enigmatic walrus Pelagiarctos". PLOS ONE. 8 (1): e54311. Bibcode:2013PLoSO...854311B. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0054311. PMC 3546998. PMID 23342129.

Odobenidae

Taxonomy[edit]

References[edit]

Further reading[edit]