Odobenidae

Odobenidae is a family of pinnipeds, of which the only extant species is the walrus (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 are extinct.

• †Archaeodobenus
• †Prototaria
• †Proneotherium
• †Nanodobenus
• †Neotherium
• †Imagotaria
• †Kamtschatarctos
• †Pelagiarctos
• †Pontolis
• †Pseudotaria
• †Titanotaria
• Clade Neodobenia
• †Gomphotaria
• Subfamily Dusignathinae
• †Dusignathus
• Subfamily Odobeninae
• †Aivukus
• †Ontocetus
• †Pliopedia
• †Protodobenus
• †Valenictus
• Odobenus

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):

References

Further reading