Enhydritherium

Enhydritherium
Temporal range: Miocene–Pliocene
E. terraenovae skeleton at Florida Museum of Natural History.
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Carnivora
Family: Mustelidae
Subfamily: Lutrinae
Genus: Enhydritherium
Berta and Morgan 1985
Species:
E. terraenovae
Binomial name
Enhydritherium terraenovae
Berta and Morgan 1985

Enhydritherium terraenovae is an extinct marine otter endemic to North America that lived during the Miocene through Pliocene epochs from ~9.1–4.9 Ma. (AEO),[1] existing for approximately 4.2 million years.

The ancestral lineage of Enhydritherium terraenova can be traced to Africa and Eurasia, but no clear route of migration can be determined according to Thompson et al.[2]

  1. ^ Alroy, John, PaleoDB collection 19461: authorized by J. Alroy, entered by J. Alroy on August 5, 1996. paleodb.org
  2. ^ Feldhamer, George A., Thompson, Bruce C., Chapman. Joseph A. Wild mammals of North America: biology, management, and conservation, Johns Hopkins University Press, 2003. ISBN 0-8018-7416-5