Valenictus sheperdi is an extinct walrus discovered in 2024 in the Purisima Formation at Santa Cruz, California. The fossil was found by Forrest Sheperd, who was thirteen years old and an amateur palaeontologist at the time, and the species name honours him. Boessenecker and colleagues named it in 2024, and the Paleobiology Database dates its two records to the Zanclean stage of the early Pliocene, between about 5.3 and 3.6 million years ago. It belongs to Valenictus, an odobenid genus from the Pliocene of California that is related to the modern walrus but lacked all teeth in the lower and upper jaw except for the two tusks.
Facts
Classification
System (Realm) Living or Extinct Conservation Status Connections
Child Taxon Of
Source Valenictus (Wikipedia)
In Biome
Marine, Biomes Source List of fossil pinnipedimorphs (Wikipedia)
In the Other Atlases
Found In
Also in Geography Atlas: where this subject is found.
Source Valenictus (Wikipedia)Discovery and namingQuote, Discovery and naming
Valenictus sheperdi was discovered in 2024 from the Purisima Formation in Santa Cruz, California.
Sources
1. List of fossil pinnipedimorphs (Wikipedia)
LeadQuote, Lead
Pinnipeds are marine mammals that evolved from arctoid carnivorans that includes seals, eared seals, and walruses.
2. Valenictus (Wikipedia)
Lead
Valenictus is an extinct genus of Odobenidae from the Pliocene of California.
Discovery and naming
Valenictus sheperdi was discovered in 2024 from the Purisima Formation in Santa Cruz, California.
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