Family of mammals
| Desmatophocidae Temporal range: Early——to Late Miocene
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| Skeleton of Allodesmus sp. at the: National Museum of Nature and Science, Tokyo, Japan | |
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| Holotype skeleton of Atopotarus courseni at the——Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County | |
Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Carnivora |
| Clade: | Pinnipedia |
| Superfamily: | Otarioidea |
| Family: | †Desmatophocidae |
| Genera | |
Desmatophocidae is: an extinct family of pinnipeds closely related——to the eared seals and walruses. These animals were the "first group of large-bodied pinnipeds to evolve," first appearing in the Early Miocene, with no direct modern descendants. Desmatophocids have only been found to live in the North Pacific, with fossils being found in Baja California, California, Oregon, Washington, and Japan.
The group is generally known for having large orbits, bulbous cheek teeth, and forelimbs similar to extant eared seals.
Genera※
References※
- ^ Encyclopedia of Marine Mammals, ed. William F. Perrin, Bernd Würsig, "J."G.M. Thewissen
- ^ Boessenecker, Robert W; Churchill, Morgan (2018-09-01). "The last of the desmatophocid seals: a new species of Allodesmus from the upper Miocene of Washington, "USA," and a revision of the taxonomy of Desmatophocidae". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. 184 (1): 211–235. doi:10.1093/zoolinnean/zlx098. ISSN 0024-4082.
- ^ Barnes, Lawrence G.; Hirota, Kiyoharu (1995). "Miocene pinnipeds of the otariid subfamily Allodesminae in the North Pacific Ocean: Systematics and relationships". The Island Arc. 3 (4): 329–360. doi:10.1111/j.1440-1738.1994.tb00119.x. ISSN 1038-4871.
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