Gomphotaria

Gomphotaria is a genus of very large shellfish-eating dusignathine walrus^[1] found along the coast of what is now California, during the late Miocene.

Gomphotaria Temporal range: Late Miocene, 7.2–5.3 Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N ↓
Restoration of Gomphotaria pugnax
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Carnivora
Suborder:	Caniformia
Parvorder:	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

Description

It was a huge-sized pinniped with skull length of around 47 cm (19 in), surpassed only by Pontolis, which had a skull of 60 cm (24 in) long.^[2] Gomphotaria had comparatively small eyes, increased upper and lower canines and four tusks, with one pair in the lower and upper jaws.^{[clarification needed]} According to wear on the tusks, G. pugnax hammered shellfish open, rather than simply sucking them out of their shells as do modern walruses.^[2] 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.