A reevaluation of the morphology, paleoecology, and phylogenetic relationships of the enigmatic walrus Pelagiarctos.

ABSTRACT:

Background

A number of aberrant walruses (Odobenidae) have been described from the Neogene of the North Pacific, including specialized suction-feeding and generalist fish-eating taxa. At least one of these fossil walruses has been hypothesized to have been a specialized predator of other marine mammals, the middle Miocene walrus Pelagiarctos thomasi from the Sharktooth Hill Bonebed of California (16.1-14.5 Ma).

Methodology/principal findings

A new specimen of Pelagiarctos from the middle Miocene "Topanga" Formation of southern California (17.5-15 Ma) allows a reassessment of the morphology and feeding ecology of this extinct walrus. The mandibles of this new specimen are robust with large canines, bulbous premolars with prominent paraconid, metaconid, hypoconid cusps, crenul

SUBMITTER: Boessenecker RW 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3546998 | biostudies-literature | 2013

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature