Zalophus

Zalophus is a genus of the family Otariidae of the order Carnivora.

Zalophus

Vassil · Public Domain · via Wikipedia/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
Also called
California sea lionPBDB
Sits inside
OtariidaePBDB
Diet
piscivorePBDB, for Otariidae
Life habit
amphibiousPBDB, for Pinnipedia
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
marinePBDB, for Pinnipedia

Time the record covers

At least 11 million years on record.

The record covers at least 11.63 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 15.98 Mya to 0 Mya.

Miocene — about 1 of 29 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 1 of 29 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 21 of 29 occurrencesPleistocene16–16 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences16–15 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences15–15 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences15–14 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences14–14 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences14–13 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences13–13 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences13–12 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences12–12 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences5.5–4.9 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences4.9–4.4 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences4.4–3.8 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences3.8–3.3 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences3.3–2.7 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences2.7–2.2 Mya — about 1 occurrence2.2–1.6 Mya — about 2 occurrences1.6–1.1 Mya — about 2 occurrences1.1–549 ka Mya — about 3 occurrences549 ka–0 Mya — about 20 occurrences11.63 Mya11.7 ka16.5 Mya0 Mya

29 occurrences of Zalophus on record, most of them in the Pleistocene. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group. 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

29 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

10 formations

Palos Verdes Sand — 33.76°N, 118.29°WPalos Verdes Sand — 34.00°N, 118.20°WPalos Verdes Sand — 33.78°N, 118.19°WPalos Verdes Sand — 33.75°N, 118.28°WPalos Verdes Sand — 33.66°N, 117.90°WPort Orford — 42.83°N, 124.55°WIimuro — 35.52°N, 139.72°EIimuro — 35.62°N, 139.57°ESan Pedro — 33.79°N, 118.29°WSan Pedro — 33.75°N, 118.28°WKarakane — 34.87°N, 132.05°EPurisima — 36.95°N, 122.03°WHirayama — 35.65°N, 139.38°EShibikawa — 41.09°N, 140.32°ENarita — 35.72°N, 140.22°ESakuragawa — 36.06°N, 140.16°E

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The named rock units Zalophus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 12 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Zalophus and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Zalophus and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

247 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 27 sites for Zalophus, 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

20 references

Each of the 29 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. 8 further references are not listed. 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 content3

Picture of Zalophus

Credit
Vassil
Licence
Public Domain
Commercial use
the licence allows it

Structured light scan

Licence
In Copyright
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Zalophus californianus · lepblb:Z-CSL-456-080104

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC Attribution
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record

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 itOtariidae through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (Gill 1866)