Nanodobenus is an extinct genus of pinniped that lived approximately 15.97 to 7.246 mya[1] during the Miocene in what is now Baja California Sur, Mexico. It belonged to the family Odobenidae, the only extant species of which is the walrus.
| Nanodobenus Temporal range: Early Miocene,
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| The left mandibular fossil of N. arandai, including articulated teeth | |
Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Carnivora |
| Clade: | Pinnipedia |
| Family: | Odobenidae |
| Genus: | †Nanodobenus Velez & Salinas-Marquez, 2018 |
| Species: | †N. arandai
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| Binomial name | |
| †Nanodobenus arandai Velez & Salinas-Marquez, 2018
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Discovery
editN. arandai is known from a partially complete left mandible and a right calcaneum bone, discovered in the Torgugas Formation in Mexico.[2]
Description
editNanodobenus were more similar in appearance to modern fur seals and sea lions than walruses. They lacked the long tusks of walruses, and were more slender and smaller than their modern relatives.
Despite the general increase in body size of odobenids from the Miocene to Pliocene, Nanodobenus were the smallest members of Odobenidae. Individuals were likely around 1.65 metres (5.4 ft) long, indicating the possibility that this genus occupied a different niche from contemporary odobenids.
Taxonomy
editNanodobenus is a relatively basal species of odobenid.
References
edit- ^ "†Nanodobenus arandai Velez and Salinas-Marquez 2018". Fossilworks. Retrieved 17 December 2021.
- ^ Velez-Juarbe, J.; Salinas-Marquez, F. (August 2018). "A dwarf walrus from the Miocene of Baja California Sur, Mexico". Royal Society Open Science. 5 (8): 180423. doi:10.1098/rsos.180423. PMC 6124023. PMID 30225030.