Gomphotaria

Gomphotaria; Temporal range: Late Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N ↓
	Restoration of Gomphotaria pugnax
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Carnivora
Clade:	Pinnipedia
Family:	Odobenidae
Genus:	†Gomphotaria; Barnes & Rashke, 1991
Type species
	†Gomphotaria pugnax; Barnes & Rashke, 1991

Gomphotaria is a genus of very large shellfish-eating

dusignathine walrus^[1] 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 47 cm (19 in), surpassed only by Pontolis, which had a skull of 60 cm (24 in) long.^[2] Gomphotaria had comparatively small eyes, increased upper and lower canines and four tusks, with one pair in the lower and upper jaws.^{[clarification needed]} According to wear on the tusks, G. pugnax hammered shellfish open, rather than simply sucking them out of their shells as do modern walruses.^[2] In terms of the postcranial skeleton, Gomphotaria and other dusignathine walruses were built more like sea lions than modern walrus. Gomphotaria is a prime example of the extreme diversity that walruses once exhibited.

References

^ ^a ^b Barnes, L. G. and R. E. Raschke. 1991. Gomphotaria pugnax, a new genus and species of Late Miocene Dusignathine Otariid Pinniped (Mammalia: Carnivora) from California. Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, Contributions in Science 426:1-16.
^ ^a ^b Annalisa Berta (2017). The Rise of Marine Mammals: 50 Million Years of Evolution. Johns Hopkins University Press. p. 110.
ISBN 978-1-4214-2325-8
. Retrieved 2022-08-21.

This article related to prehistoric animals from order Carnivora is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

[BarnesRaschke-1] Barnes, L. G. and R. E. Raschke. 1991. Gomphotaria pugnax, a new genus and species of Late Miocene Dusignathine Otariid Pinniped (Mammalia: Carnivora) from California. Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, Contributions in Science 426:1-16.

[Berta2017-2] Annalisa Berta (2017). The Rise of Marine Mammals: 50 Million Years of Evolution. Johns Hopkins University Press. p. 110.
ISBN 978-1-4214-2325-8
. Retrieved 2022-08-21.

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