Enaliarctos

Enaliarctos
Temporal range: Late Oligocene - Early Miocene, 28–17 Ma [1]
Enaliarctos mealsi cast of a specimen from California. At the AMNH.
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Carnivora
Clade: Pinnipedimorpha
Family: Enaliarctidae
Mitchell & Tedford, 1973
Genus: Enaliarctos
Mitchell & Tedford, 1973
Species
  • E. mealsi (type)
  • E. barnesi
  • E. emlongi
  • E. mitchelli
  • E. tedfordi

Enaliarctos[2] is an extinct genus of pinnipedimorph, and may represent the ancestor to all pinnipeds. The five species in the genus Enaliarctos have been recovered from late Oligocene and early Miocene (ca. 28-17 million years ago) strata of California and Oregon.[1]

  1. ^ a b Poust A.W. & Boessenecker R.W. (2018). "Expanding the geographic and geochronologic range of early pinnipeds: New specimens of Enaliarctos from Northern California and Oregon". Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 63(1): p. 25-40
  2. ^ From Greek ἐνάλιος, enalios, of the sea; and ἄρκτος, arktos, bear, "referring to the arctoid, including ursid, Carnivora" (Mitchell & Tedford, 1973, p. 218).