Dusignathus

Dusignathus is an extinct genus of walrus belonging to the family Odobenidae. The genus name means "jaw of the setting sun," a reference to its occurrence on the west coast of North America. Unlike the modern walrus, which bears tusks only on the upper jaw, Dusignathus possessed enlarged canine tusks on both the upper and lower jaws, a trait shared with its close relative Gomphotaria and characteristic of the subfamily Dusignathinae.

Dusignathus

N.Tamura · CC BY-SA 4.0 · via Wikidata/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Sits inside
DusignathinaePBDB
Diet
insectivorePBDB, for Odobenidae
Life habit
amphibiousPBDB, for Pinnipedia
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
marinePBDB, for Pinnipedia

Time the record covers

At least 3.6 million years on record.

The record covers at least 7.246 Mya to 3.6 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 11.63 Mya to 2.58 Mya.

Miocene — about 9 of 12 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 3 of 12 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 0 of 12 occurrences12–11 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences11–11 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences11–11 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences11–10 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences10–10 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences10–9.8 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences9.8–9.4 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences9.4–9.1 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences9.1–8.8 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences8.8–8.4 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences8.4–8.1 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences8.1–7.8 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences7.8–7.4 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences7.4–7.1 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences7.1–6.8 Mya — about 1 occurrence6.8–6.4 Mya — about 1 occurrence6.4–6.1 Mya — about 1 occurrence6.1–5.8 Mya — about 1 occurrence5.8–5.4 Mya — about 1 occurrence5.4–5.1 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences5.1–4.8 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences4.8–4.4 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences4.4–4.1 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences4.1–3.8 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences3.8–3.4 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences3.4–3.1 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences3.1–2.8 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences2.8–2.4 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences7.246 Mya3.6 Mya12.1 Mya2.1 Mya

12 occurrences of Dusignathus on record, most of them in the Miocene. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

12 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

5 formations

Purisima — 36.95°N, 122.04°WPurisima — 38.06°N, 122.97°WPurisima — 37.53°N, 122.52°WPurisima — 37.31°N, 122.40°WDrakes Bay — 37.99°N, 123.00°WAlmejas — 28.11°N, 115.18°WSan Diego — 32.64°N, 117.08°WWilson Grove — 38.34°N, 122.84°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Dusignathus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed.

Dusignathus and its relatives

Miocene

Where Dusignathus and its relatives were recorded in the Miocene.

Found in the same rock

101 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 11 sites for Dusignathus, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

6 references

Each of the 12 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content2

Picture of Dusignathus

Credit
N.Tamura
Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

Structured light scan

Licence
not stated by the source
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Dusignathus santacruzensis · UCMP:V:27121

Smithsonian Open Access was not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itDusignathinae through timeFormations of the MioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Kellogg 1927