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Science 7 April 1989:
Vol. 244. no. 4900, pp. 60 - 62
DOI: 10.1126/science.244.4900.60
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Articles

Skeleton of the Oldest Known Pinniped, Enaliarctos mealsi

ANNALISA BERTA 1, CLAYTON E. RAY 2, and ANDRacuteE R. WYSS 3

1 Department of Biology, San Diego State University, San Diego, CA 92182.
2 Department of Paleobiology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC 20560.
3 Department of Vertebrate Paleontology, American Museum of Natural History, New York, NY 10024.

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.

Submitted on October 24, 1988
Accepted on January 30, 1989


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