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