Sespia
Sespia ("of Sespe Creek") is an extinct genus of oreodont endemic to North America. They lived during the Late Oligocene 26.3—24.8 mya, existing for approximately 1.5 million years. Sespia was cat to goat-sized and desert-dwelling. The genus was closely related to the larger Leptauchenia.
| Sespia Temporal range: Late Oligocene | |
|---|---|
| Sespia ultima and S. californica | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Artiodactyla |
| Family: | †Merycoidodontidae |
| Tribe: | †Sespiini |
| Genus: | †Sespia Schultz & Falkenbach 1968 |
| Type species | |
| †Leptauchenia nitida | |
| Species | |
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| Synonyms | |
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Fossils of the best known species, the cat-sized S. californica, have been found California and are known from literally thousands of specimens. The largest species, the goat-sized S. ultima, is known from late Oligocene deposits in Nebraska. S. ultima was once placed in a separate, monotypic, genus as Megasespia middleswarti. Other species were once placed within Leptauchenia.
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