# Pontolis

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Extinct genus of carnivores

Pontolis Temporal range: Miocene-Pliocene PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N Skull (LACM 162551) of P. barroni, Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County Scientific classification Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Mammalia Infraclass: Placentalia Order: Carnivora Parvorder: Pinnipedia Family: Odobenidae Genus: †Pontolis True, 1905 Type species †Pontolis magnus True, 1905 Species †P. magnus (True, 1905, type] †P. barroni Biewer, Velez-Juarbe & Parham, 2020 †P. kohnoi Biewer, Velez-Juarbe & Parham, 2020 Synonyms Pontoleon magnus True, 1905

***Pontolis*** is an extinct genus of large [walrus](/source/Walrus). It contained three species, ***P. magnus***, ***P. barroni***, and ***P. kohnoi***.[1][2] Like all [pinnipeds](/source/Pinniped), *Pontolis* was a heavily built amphibious carnivore. *Pontolis* lived along the Pacific coast of North America along what is now the western coasts of [California](/source/California) and [Oregon](/source/Oregon) between 11.608 and 5.332 million years ago, during the [Miocene](/source/Miocene) and [Pliocene](/source/Pliocene).[1]

## Description

Jaw of *P. magnus*

The skull of *Pontolis* is 60 cm (24 in) long, surpassing skulls of any other prehistoric pinnipeds and twice as big as the skulls of modern male walruses.[3] This giant species was much larger than modern walrus, though like many other extinct walrus species, its upper canines did not develop into long tusks like those of the modern walrus. *Pontolis* reached more than 4 m (13 ft) in body length,[4] rivaling the extant [southern elephant seal](/source/Southern_elephant_seal) as the largest pinniped[5] and member of the order [Carnivora](/source/Carnivora) of all time. Weight estimates for *Pontolis* range between 2,000 to 4,000 kg (4,400 to 8,800 lb).[6]

## References

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-Pontolis_1-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-Pontolis_1-1) ["Pontolis"](https://paleobiodb.org/classic/checkTaxonInfo?taxon_no=36942). *[Fossilworks](/source/Fossilworks)*. Retrieved 17 December 2021.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** Biewer, Jacob N.; Velez-Juarbe, Jorge; Parham, James F. (1 December 2020). "Insights on the Dental Evolution of Walruses Based on New Fossil Specimens from California". *Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology*. **40** (5) e1833896. [Bibcode](/source/Bibcode_(identifier)):[2020JVPal..40E3896B](https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2020JVPal..40E3896B). [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.1080/02724634.2020.1833896](https://doi.org/10.1080%2F02724634.2020.1833896). [ISSN](/source/ISSN_(identifier)) [0272-4634](https://search.worldcat.org/issn/0272-4634). [S2CID](/source/S2CID_(identifier)) [228814992](https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:228814992).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-Berta2017_3-0)** Annalisa Berta (2017). [*The Rise of Marine Mammals: 50 Million Years of Evolution*](https://books.google.com/books?id=mHw6DwAAQBAJ&dq=Gomphotaria+skull+47+cm&pg=PA110). Johns Hopkins University Press. p. 110. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-1-4214-2325-8](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-1-4214-2325-8). Retrieved 21 August 2022.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-4)** Morgan Churchill, Mark T. Clementz, Naoki Kohno. "Cope's rule and the evolution of body size in Pinnipedimorpha (Mammalia: Carnivora)". Evolution. 2015 Jan;69(1):201-15. doi:10.1111/evo.12560

1. **[^](#cite_ref-5)** Xénia Keighley, Morten Tange Olsen, Peter Jordan, Sean P.A. Desjardins (2021). [*The Atlantic Walrus: Multidisciplinary Insights into Human-Animal Interactions*](https://books.google.com/books?id=DeXEDwAAQBAJ&dq=largest+pinniped+%22pontolis%22&pg=PA17). Charlotte Cockle. p. 17. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0-12-817431-9](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-12-817431-9). Retrieved 21 August 2022.{{[cite book](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Cite_book)}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list ([link](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:CS1_maint:_multiple_names:_authors_list))

1. **[^](#cite_ref-6)** Valentin, T. *Encyclopedia Largest Prehistoric Animals Vol.1 Vertebrates part1 Mammals ch.1 Carnivores - Hyaenidae, Mustelids and Viverrids Encyclopedia Largest prehistoric animals Vol.1 Vertebrates part1 Mammals ch.1 Carnivores -Mesonychids.*

v t e Genera of pinnipeds and their stem-allies Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Mammalia Order: Carnivora Suborder: Caniformia Infraorder: Arctoidea Pan-Pinnipedia †Amphicynodontidae Allocyon Amphicticeps Amphicynodon Drassonax Kolponomos Pachycynodon Parictis Wangictis †Semantoridae Necromites Potamotherium Puijila Semantor Pinnipedimorpha †Enaliarctos Pinnipediformes †Pacificotaria †Pinnarctidion †Pteronarctos Pinnipedia Phocidae †Devinophoca Monachinae †Magnotherium Monachini †Afrophoca †Auroraphoca †Messiphoca Monachus Neomonachus †Eomonachus †Noriphoca †Palmidophoca †Pliophoca †Pontophoca †Pristiphoca †Terranectes Miroungini †Callophoca Mirounga Lobodontini †Acrophoca †Australophoca †Hadrokirus †Homiphoca Hydrurga Leptonychotes Lobodon Ommatophoca †Piscophoca †Properiptychus †Virginiaphoca Phocinae †Cryptophoca †Frisiphoca †Kawas †Leptophoca †Monachopsis †Monotherium †Phocanella †Prophoca †Sarmatonectes Erignathini Erignathus †Platyphoca Cystophorini Cystophora †Miophoca †Pachyphoca Phocini †Batavipusa †Gryphoca Halichoerus Histriophoca †Nanophoca Pagophilus Phoca †Planopusa †Praepusa Pusa Otarioidea see below↓ Otarioidea †Desmatophocidae Allodesmus Atopotarus Desmatophoca Eodesmus Odobenidae †Archaeodobenus †Imagotaria †Kamtschatarctos †Nanodobenus †Neotherium †Osodobenus †Pelagiarctos †Pontolis †Proneotherium †Prototaria †Pseudotaria †Titanotaria Neodobenia †Dusignathinae Dusignathus Gomphotaria Odobeninae †Aivukus Odobenus †Ontocetus †Pliopedia †Protodobenus †Valenictus Panotariidae †Eotaria Otariidae Callorhinae Callorhinus †Pithanotaria Otariinae †Thalassoleon Zalophini Eumetopias †Oriensarctos †Proterozetes Zalophus Otariini Arctocephalus Arctophoca †Hydrarctos Neophoca Otaria Phocarctos Lists List of pinnipeds List of fossil pinnipedimorphs

Taxon identifiers Pontolis Wikidata: Q20817937 BioLib: 1214819 GBIF: 4833409 IRMNG: 1296683 Paleobiology Database: 36942

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Pontolis](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pontolis) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pontolis?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.