Enaliarctos
This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations. (February 2009) |
Enaliarctos | |
---|---|
E. mealsi fossil | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Mammalia |
Order: | Carnivora |
Clade: | Pinnipedimorpha |
Family: | †Enaliarctidae Mitchell & Tedford, 1973 |
Genus: | †Enaliarctos Mitchell & Tedford, 1973 |
Species | |
|
Enaliarctos[1] is an extinct genus of pinnipedimorph, and may represent the ancestor to all pinnipeds. Prior to the discovery of Puijila, the five species in the genus Enaliarctos represented the oldest known pinnipedimorph fossils, having been recovered from late Oligocene and early Miocene (ca. 24–22 million years ago) strata of California and Oregon.
Description
It had a short
whiskers, and a specialized inner ear
for hearing underwater.
Evolution
Enaliarctos has been heralded as the ancestor of all known pinnipeds, including the families
fossils from coastal Oregon. It existed between 13 and 20 million years ago, during the Hemingfordian age of the Miocene epoch. It was named for renowned fossil collector Douglas Emlong in 1991 by paleontologist Annalisa Berta
.
Notes
References
- Berta, A., C.E. Ray and A.R. Wyss. 1989. Skeleton of the oldest known pinniped, Enaliarctos mealsi. Science 244:60-62.
- Berta, A. 1991. New Enaliarctos* (Pinnipedimorpha) from the Miocene of Oregon and the role of "Enaliarctids" in Pinniped Phylogeny. Smithsonian Contributions to Paleobiology 69.
- Dixon, D., Moody, R., Jenkins, I. and Zhuravlev, A.Y., Cassell's Atlas of Evolution. Oxford 2001
- Mitchell, E., & Tedford, R.H. 1973. The Enaliarctinae: A new group of extinct aquatic Carnivora and a consideration of the origin of the Otariidae. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, 151(3), 203-284 (available online)
- Wallace, D.R. 2007. Neptune's Ark: From Ichthyosaurs to Orcas. University of California Press.