Gomphotaria

Taxobox
name = "Gomphotaria"
fossil_range = Late Miocene

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image_caption = "Gomphotaria pugnax"
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Mammalia
ordo = Carnivora
subordo = Caniformia
superfamilia = Pinnipedia
familia = Odobenidae
familia_authority = Allen, 1880
genus = "Gomphotaria"
species = "G. pugnax"

"Gomphotaria pugnax" ("Pugnacious Wedge-Seal") was a species of very large shellfish-eating dusignathine walrus found along the coast of what is now California, during the late Miocene. It had four tusks, with one pair in the lower and upper jaws, and according to wear on the tusks, "G. pugnax" hammered shellfish open, rather than simply suck them out of their shells as do modern walruses. 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.