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Skeleton of the Oldest Known Pinniped, Enaliarctos mealsi

1989; American Association for the Advancement of Science; Volume: 244; Issue: 4900 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1126/science.244.4900.60

1095-9203

Annalisa Berta, Clayton E. Ray, André R. Wyss,

Paleontology and Evolutionary Biology

A nearly complete skeleton of the archaic pinniped Enaliarctos, found in late Oligocene or early Miocene rocks (approximately 23 million years old) of California, provides new evidence on the origin of pinnipeds. Enaliarctos retains many primitive features expected in the hypothesized common ancestor of pinnipeds. Skeletal modifications seen in Enaliarctos document swimming adaptations and indicate that pinnipeds primitively used the axial skeleton and both fore and hindflippers as sources of propulsion. Elongate hindlimbs with prominent bony processes (reflecting powerful musculature) suggest that Enaliarctos was more active on land than modern pinnipeds.