Further desmostylian remains from the upper Oligocene of Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada
The North Pacific rim was home to an extinct group of semiaquatic marine mammals, the order Desmostylia, which superficially resembled hippos. Desmostylians are an uncommon fossil vertebrate in most localities where they occur, and Oligocene taxa particularly so. Beyond the type dentition and t...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Institute of Paleobiology PAS
2023-06-01
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| Series: | Acta Palaeontologica Polonica |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.4202/app.00990.2022 |
| Summary: | The North Pacific rim was home to an extinct group of semiaquatic
marine mammals, the order Desmostylia, which
superficially resembled hippos. Desmostylians are an uncommon
fossil vertebrate in most localities where they occur,
and Oligocene taxa particularly so. Beyond the type
dentition and two femora of Cornwallius sookensis, and
the skull and postcrania of Behemotops proteus, both previously
described from the region of Muir Creek locality
of the upper Oligocene Sooke Formation of southern coast
of Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada, no other
records from this site have been reported. Additional specimens
of teeth have now been found in the Royal British
Columbia Museum and Canadian Museum of Nature, including
a long-forgotten and unreported paratype. In total,
three additional teeth, one of B. proteus and two possibly
belonging to C. sookensis, are reported here from its type
locality. More importantly, the upper molar reported here,
as well as UCMP 36078 from Baja California and USNM
181740 from Oregon, all resemble each other but should be
considered as belonging to Cornwallius only with caution. |
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| ISSN: | 0567-7920 1732-2421 |