''Kronokotherium'' is an extinct

herbivorous A herbivore is an animal anatomically and physiologically adapted to eating plant material, for example foliage or marine algae, for the main component of its diet. As a result of their plant diet, herbivorous animals typically have mouthpar ...

marine mammal Marine mammals are aquatic mammals that rely on the ocean and other marine ecosystems for their existence. They include animals such as seals, whales, manatees, sea otters and polar bears. They are an informal group, unified only by their ...

of the

family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...

Desmostylidae Desmostylidae is an extinct family (biology), family of herbivorous marine mammals belonging to the order of Desmostylia. They lived in the coastal waters of the northern Pacific Ocean from the Early Oligocene (Rupelian) through the Late Miocene ...

in the order

Desmostylia The Desmostylia (from Greek δεσμά ''desma'', "bundle", and στῦλος ''stylos'', "pillar") are an extinct order of aquatic mammals that existed from the early Oligocene (Rupelian) to the late Miocene ( Tortonian) (). Desmostylians are t ...

. Its type locality is Raktinskaya,

Kamchatka Peninsula The Kamchatka Peninsula (russian: полуостров Камчатка, Poluostrov Kamchatka, ) is a peninsula in the Russian Far East, with an area of about . The Pacific Ocean and the Sea of Okhotsk make up the peninsula's eastern and w ...

, Russia (, paleocoordinates ). ''Kronokotherium'' was made a separate

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...

because the specimen differs from '' Desmostylus'' in the arrangement of the major molar cusps and its smaller size, but it has been synonymized with ''Desmostylus'' by most authors.

Notes

References

* * Desmostylians Miocene mammals of Asia Prehistoric placental genera Fossil taxa described in 1957 Extinct animals of Russia {{Paleo-mammal-stub