Odobenidae is a family of

pinniped Pinnipeds (pronounced ), commonly known as seals, are a widely distributed and diverse clade of carnivorous, fin-footed, semiaquatic, mostly marine mammals. They comprise the extant families Odobenidae (whose only living member is the walru ...

s. The only living species is the

walrus The walrus (''Odobenus rosmarus'') is a large pinniped, flippered marine mammal with a discontinuous distribution about the North Pole in the Arctic Ocean and subarctic seas of the Northern Hemisphere. The walrus is the only living species in ...

(''Odobenus rosmarus''). In the past, however, the group was much more diverse, and includes more than a dozen fossil genera.

Taxonomy

All genera, except ''

Odobenus The walrus (''Odobenus rosmarus'') is a large flippered marine mammal with a discontinuous distribution about the North Pole in the Arctic Ocean and subarctic seas of the Northern Hemisphere. The walrus is the only living species in the fa ...

'', are extinct. *†''

Archaeodobenus ''Archaeodobenus'' is an extinct genus of pinniped that lived during the Late Miocene of what is now Japan. It belonged to the Odobenidae family, which is today only represented by the walrus, but was much more diverse in the past, containing at ...

'' *†''

Prototaria ''Prototaria'' is an extinct genus of pinniped that lived approximately 15.97 to 13.65 mya during the Middle Miocene in what is now Japan. It belonged to the family Odobenidae, the only extant species of which is the walrus. Members of the genu ...

'' *†''

Proneotherium ''Proneotherium'' is an extinct genus of pinniped that lived approximately 20.43 to 15.97 mya during the Early Miocene in what is now Oregon, U.S. It belonged to the family Odobenidae, the only extant species of which is the walrus. Discovery ...

'' *†''

Nanodobenus ''Nanodobenus'' is an extinct genus of pinniped that lived approximately 15.97 to 7.246 mya during the Miocene in what is now Baja California Sur, Mexico. It belonged to the family Odobenidae, the only extant species of which is the walrus. Di ...

'' *†''

Neotherium ''Neotherium mirum'' is an extinct species of basal walrus.Berta, Annalisa. 2002bPinniped Evolutionin ''Encyclopedia of Marine Mammals'', eds. Perrin, William F., Bernd Würsig Bernd Gerhard Würsig (born 9 November 1948 in Barsinghausen, Ge ...

'' *†''

Imagotaria ''Imagotaria'' is an extinct monotypic genus of walrus with the sole species ''Imagotaria downsi''. Fossils of ''Imagotaria'' are known from the early late Miocene of California (c. 10-12 million years ago). Description The long pinniped more ...

'' *†''

Kamtschatarctos ''Kamtschatarctos'' is an extinct genus of pinniped that lived approximately 15.97 to 11.608 mya during the Early Miocene in the Kavran-Ukhtolok Bay of Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula. It belonged to the family Odobenidae, the only extant species o ...

'' *†''

Pelagiarctos ''Pelagiarctos'' was a genus of walrus that lived during the Mid Miocene, approx. 13-15 mya. Its remains have been found in the Sharktooth Hill Bonebed, in Kern County, California. It was originally described as an Otariidae, though it is now u ...

'' *†''

Pontolis ''Pontolis'' is an extinct genus of large walrus. It contained three species, ''P. magnus, P. barroni,'' and ''P. kohnoi''. Like all pinnipeds, ''Pontolis'' was a heavily built amphibious carnivore. ''Pontolis'' lived along the Pacific coast of ...

'' *†'' Pseudotaria'' *†''

Titanotaria ''Titanotaria'' is a genus of late, basal Odobenidae, walrus from the Miocene of Orange County, California. Unlike much later odobenids, it lacked tusks. ''Titanotaria'' is known from an almost complete specimen which serves as the holotype for t ...

'' *Clade Neodobenia **†''

Gomphotaria ''Gomphotaria'' is a genus of very large shellfish-eating dusignathine walrus found along the coast of what is now California, during the late Miocene. Description It was a huge-sized pinniped with skull length of around , surpassing only ...

'' **Subfamily Dusignathinae ***†'' Dusignathus'' **Subfamily Odobeninae ***†''

Aivukus ''Aivukus'' is an extinct genus of walrus from the Miocene. Etymology The generic name is derived from the Inuit word for walrus, ''aivuk''. Description From fossil records it was at least as big as, if not slightly bigger than, the modern walr ...

'' ***†''

Ontocetus ''Ontocetus'' is an extinct genus of walrus, an aquatic carnivoran of the family Odobenidae, endemic to coastal regions of the southern North Sea and the southeastern coastal regions of the U.S. during the Miocene-Pleistocene. It lived from 13.6 ...

'' ***†''

Pliopedia ''Pliopedia pacifica'' is an extinct species of walrus found in what is now Central Valley, California, United States, which lived during the late Miocene. It was an amphibious carnivore. Discovery The holotype specimen (USNM 13627) was coll ...

'' ***†'' Protodobenus'' ***†'' Valenictus'' ***''

'' 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''):

Taxonomy

References

Further reading