Desmatophoca

Desmatophoca
Temporal range: Early Miocene
Desmatophoca oregonense
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Carnivora
Family: Desmatophocidae
Genus: Desmatophoca
Condon, 1906
Species
  • D. brachycephala Barnes, 1987
  • D. oregonensis Condon, 1906 (type species)

Desmatophoca is an extinct genus of pinniped known from Early Miocene marine deposits in the Oregon and Washington State, US.

Description

Desmatophoca is the type genus of the extinct pinniped family Desmatophocidae, which is closely related to Phocidae. Unlike modern true seals, it had a tail, although this was relatively short. It had large eyes, and presumably hunted by sight, and its ears do not appear to have been adapted for hearing underwater.[1] Desmatophoca is phylogenetically the most primitive desmatophocid, differing from Allodesmus in lacking a prenarial shelf and in having two-rooted postcanine teeth.[2]

Desmatophoca oregonensis was one of the first known fossil pinnipeds from the west coast of North America, and it is now known by several skulls, jaws, and forelimb elements from the Oregon coast. It had lost the primitive shearing carnassials of older pinnipeds like Enaliarctos, which indicates that it was able to feed and ingest fish underwater without having to return to land.

References

  1. ↑ Palmer, D., ed. (1999). The Marshall Illustrated Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs and Prehistoric Animals. London: Marshall Editions. p. 227. ISBN 1-84028-152-9.
  2. ↑ Robert W. Boessenecker; Morgan Churchill (2018). "The last of the desmatophocid seals: a new species of Allodesmus from the upper Miocene of Washington, USA, and a revision of the taxonomy of Desmatophocidae". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. Online edition. doi:10.1093/zoolinnean/zlx098.


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