Archaeodobenus
| Archaeodobenus Temporal range:
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| Partial holotype cranium shown from above, the left side, and below | |
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| Genus: | Archaeodobenus Tanaka & Kohno, 2015
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| Species: | A. akamatsui
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| Archaeodobenus akamatsui Tanaka & Kohno, 2015
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Archaeodobenus is an extinct genus of pinniped that lived during the Late Miocene of what is now Japan. It belonged to the Odobenidae family, which is today only represented by the walrus, but was much more diverse in the past, containing at least 16 genera. The first known specimen was collected from the Ichibangawa Formation in Tobetsu Town on the island of Hokkaido. The specimen consists of a partial skull, vertebrae, and limb bones, and was made the holotype specimen of the new genus and species A. akamatsui by the Japanese palaeontologists Yoshihiro Tanaka and Naoki Kohno in 2015. The generic name consists of archaio, the Greek word for ancient, and the generic name of the walrus, Odobenus. The specific name honours Morio Akamatsu, a curator of the Hokkaido Museum.[1][2]
The diversity of odobenids increased during the Late Miocene and Pliocene, perhaps linked to marine regression and transgression, which could have isolated their ancestors. Archaeodobenus was the contemporary of the odobenid Pseudotaria from the same formation, which it may have diverged from in the western North Pacific during the Late Miocene.[1]
References
- ^ a b Tanaka, Y.; Kohno, N.; Mihlbachler, M. C. (2015). "A New Late Miocene Odobenid (Mammalia: Carnivora) from Hokkaido, Japan Suggests Rapid Diversification of Basal Miocene Odobenids". PLOS ONE. 10 (8): e0131856. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0131856.
{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: unflagged free DOI (link) - ^ Geggel, Laura (2015). "No Tusks: Ancient Walrus Cousin Looked More Like a Sea Lion". Live Science. Retrieved 3 November 2018.