Enhydritherium

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.

Enhydritherium Temporal range: Miocene–Pliocene PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
E. terraenovae skeleton at Florida Museum of Natural History.
Scientific 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

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]

Taxonomy

Enhydritherium terraenovae was named by Berta and Morgan in 1985^[3] and is the genotype for this animal. Its type locality is the phosphate Palmetto Mine in Florida, which is in a Hemphillian marginal marine sandstone in the Upper Bone Valley Formation of Florida.

Fossil distribution

E. terraenovae jaw, Florida Museum of Natural History

Fossil specimens were found in California (3 sites) and Florida (8 sites).

In 2017, part of a jawbone was found in the Juchipila Basin, Zacatecas.^[4] Located about 200 km from the modern Pacific coast and 600 from the Gulf of Mexico, the finding suggests the animal migrated across the continent using fresh water corridors in central Mexico.^[5]