Gomphotaria

Gomphotaria pugnax was a species of very large shellfish-eating dusignathine walrus[1] found along the coast of what is now California, during the late Miocene. It had four tusks, with one pair in the lower and upper jaws, and according to wear on the tusks, G. pugnax hammered shellfish open, rather than simply sucking them out of their shells as do modern walruses. In terms of the postcranial skeleton, Gomphotaria and other dusignathine walruses were built more like sea lions than modern walrus. Gomphotaria is a prime example of the extreme diversity that walruses once exhibited.

Gomphotaria
Temporal range: Late Miocene, 7.2–5.3 Ma
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Restoration of Gomphotaria pugnax
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Carnivora
Clade: Pinnipediformes
Clade: Pinnipedia
Family: Odobenidae
Genus: †Gomphotaria
Barnes & Rashke, 1991
Type species
Gomphotaria pugnax
Barnes & Rashke, 1991[1]
Restoration of foraging Gomphotaria pugnax with Dusignathus in foreground

References
  1. Barnes, L. G. and R. E. Raschke. 1991. Gomphotaria pugnax, a new genus and species of Late Miocene Dusignathine Otariid Pinniped (Mammalia: Carnivora) from California. Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, Contributions in Science 426:1-16.


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