Semantoridae

Semantoridae; Temporal range: Late Oligocene - Late Miocene,
	Restored skeleton of Puijila darwini
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Carnivora
Clade:	Pan-Pinnipedia
Family:	†Semantoridae; Orlov, 1931
Genera
	Semantor Orlov, 1931; type; Necromites V. V. Bogachev. 1940; Potamotherium Geoffroy, 1833; Puijila Rybczynski et al., 2009;

Semantoridae is an extinct family of stem-pinnipeds with fossils found in France, Kazakhstan, and Canada, dating back to various points in time in the Miocene epoch. Based on their overall anatomy semantorids were not marine specialists, as their elongated bodies, a long tail and robust limbs suggest they were freshwater animals not unlike otters. Indeed, at least some taxa such as Semantor and Potamotherium were initially classified as mustelids closely related to otters.

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.